Best of Boston

The words civilized and shopping mall rarely appear in the same sentence. But at Chestnut Hill Mall the experience is downright peaceful, especially when jazz quartets play on weekends. There are also two good department stores, Bloomie’s and Filene’s; plenty of specialty stores like Oilily, Barneys, and Kenzie Kids; old reliables like the Gap and Banana Republic; kid havens Learningsmith and FAO Schwartz; and perhaps most important, plenty of parking.