All Smithsonian museums have gift shops and they are tax-free. The largest and can be found in the National Museum of American History and the National Air and Space Museum.

The gift shop in the National Building Museum is one of the best gift shops not run by the Smithsonian Institution. (6.5% DC tax applies.)

Georgetown

Georgetown features numerous clothing and antique retailers as well as restaurants and bars and the upscale Georgetown Park shopping mall. Georgetown's main commercial corridors are M Street and Wisconsin Avenue NW, whose intersection may be considered its heart. No Metro stations are immediately accessible, although it is walkable from Rosslyn (Orange & Blue), Foggy Bottom/GWU (Orange & Blue) and Dupont Circle (Red). There is also a Georgetown connector shuttle from these three stations for $1 each way, or $0.35 with a rail transfer.

Friendship Heights

Washington's other main high fashion district is found in Friendship Heights, straddling the DC-Maryland border within two blocks of the Red Line station of the same name. It is home to many high-end stores (such as Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Gucci, Dior, and Versace) in and around the Mazza Gallerie and Chevy Chase Pavilion shopping centers, as well as a concentration of day spas.

Downtown

Downtown shopping is more dispersed, but there is a cluster of stores around the Metro Center station anchored by the large Hecht's department store directly connected to the station. The Shops at International Plaza, located near the Farragut West station on the Orange and Blue Lines, is a three-level indoor mall featuring over 100 stores and restaurants. Additional shopping can be found at the Pavilion at the Old Post Office, on Pennsylvania Avenue NW near the Federal Triangle Metro station.

Within the city limits

Elsewhere in Washington, the Shops at Union Station include a variety of retailers. Politics & Prose is a notable bookstore on Connecticut Avenue several blocks north of the Van Ness-UDC Metro Station. Kramerbooks and Lambda Rising are notable local bookstores and Dupont Circle institutions; the Dupont Circle area also includes numerous art galleries and lesbian/gay/bisexual oriented retailers.