Kitsch for Your Cross-Country Excursion

This is the fourth installment in a bi-weekly feature on specialty stores in the Boston area. This week, the Dailylooks at souvenir shops.

Forget Cancun -- for those who love to shop, Spring Break is the perfect opportunity to blow a hole in your wallet and get rid of the extra holiday money that's been plaguing you ever since December. If you've finally tired of trolling Downtown Crossing and searching for a nonexistent bargain at Cambridgeside, hop in a car or on a plane and head around the country to seek out other great shopping opportunities.

Leaving New England isn't even a necessity. If you're still searching for that shirt from Filene's that you never quite got around to buying six months ago, try one of the various Ocean State Job Lot stores, which purchase close-out brand name merchandise to sell for cheaper prices. For those willing to hop on a train and brave the New York subway, discounts abound in secondhand shops, and you can even pick up a model of the Statue of Liberty to decorate your desk for the rest of the semester.

The signs for South of the Border start to pop up somewhere south of Richmond, Virginia. Then they pop up relentlessly, at least one per mile on average, to the point where you can't do anything but stop at this cheesy tourist stop. It's amazing that so much can be squeezed out of a stretch of souvenir stores and dilapidated "restaurants," but when your rear end is sore from hours of driving, any diversion is more than welcome. South of the Border is perhaps the vilest result of capitalism this side of Enron, but I dare you to drive by it on I-95. It's irresistible.

If you prefer malls, head for the Midwest -- the Mall of America, of course, is the king in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and is so big that it even has its own theme park inside. Oakpark Mall just north of Chicago, Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Illinois, and Mayfair Mall outside of Milwaukee give one the opportunity to turn a road trip into one big shopping excursion. If you make it to the Windy City, Michigan Avenue is famous for its shops and boutiques, but the area around Grant Park probably offers a better opportunity to find something at a real bargain.

For those unlucky enough to be heading even farther into the frozen north, the West Edmonton Mall up in Edmonton, Canada, is the largest in the world. Even if it's snowing outside, the Galaxyland amusement park and the full-scale water park and aquarium within the mall itself offer the perfect escape from the ice and snow. The shops, of course, are nothing to turn your nose up at, either: with over 800 stores spread out over a sprawling 120 acres, even the pickiest shopper will be sure to find something to take back to his or her dorm room.

The west coast has its own share of shopping opportunities. Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco boasts fish markets side by side with knickknack shops, perfect for purchasing a little wooden boat that can sit on top of your fireplace for all eternity. For those with a sweet tooth, the city by the bay also has more than its share of candy shops, featuring everything from homemade fudge to maple sugar candies.

Keep California on your mind as you support Corporate America at Downtown Disney, keep an eye out for movie stars as you cruise the streets of L.A., or troll the tourist shops by the water in San Diego as it suits your fancy. Tourists may come from all over the world to check out South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, but you'll probably be better off finding a bargain if you head for the outlet malls just outside of Palm Springs. If you've never quite been convinced that "Jurassic Park" wasn't the real deal, you can stop off on the way at the gas station right outside the San Gorgonio Pass on Interstate 10 -- two gigantic dinosaurs mark the skyline here, and you can climb into the Tyrannosaurus Rex to check out the overpriced dino models and fossils on sale in the gift shop inside.

If you really head south of the border -- even for just a mile or two -- the plethora of cheap, strange, or otherwise attractive products for sale in border towns like Juarez or Tijuana will cause you to dive right for your wallet. You can use the paper flowers and cheaply made maracas to convince your friends back home that you've gone somewhere really exotic, and even get the thrill of living on the edge when you haggle your way down from $5 for that Bart Simpson shirt that you always wanted.

Whether you're hunting for bargains on Miami beaches or in the open-air market at Florence, Spring Break is still the perfect opportunity to spend money. Remember: if you love shopping, it's not where you go, but what kind of deals you can dig up.