Village Gate

Imagine a mall unlike any you have ever seen. A mall more like an art gallery than a galleria. A place where you can go to appreciate sculpture, paintings and design as you shop in funky little stores and eat in quaint restaurants. Fiction? Not quite…

Village Gate Square in Rochester boasts all of these things and more. An art community more than a mall really, Village Gate plays host to small specialty shops (jewelry, antique, book and collectable stores), art galleries, designers, professional artists, marketing firms, computer companies, restaurants and bars and even loft space. Every inch of the converted warehouse space is filled with color and imagination. You could lose yourself for an entire afternoon just wandering around the atrium.

Village Gate Square is part of Rochester’s Neighborhood Of The Arts (NOTA) program and is located within a very short walking distance of other art community staples of the area like The Memorial Art Gallery, The George Eastman House and the International Museum of Photography. The center has been one of my favorite places to visit ever since the first time my mom brought me there as a little kid, and continues to be a place that Scott and I visit regularly when we return home. We put it at the top of our list of cool places in Upstate to spend an afternoon. For more information, visit Village Gate’s site: http://www.villagegatesquare.com/VillageGateABOUT.htm