Store

This clean Fourth Avenue space, located just a few doors down from Luly Yang Couture, is well stocked -- but not overflowing -- with a dreamy selection of handbags from the likes of Alexis Hudson, Botkier and Kooba.

“We wanted to shop for handbags in a place with the selection of a department store, but in an intimate and fun boutique setting,” says Carrie Arrington, who owns the boutique along with her sister-in-law, advertising-agency owner Kimberly Arrington. “We get giddy over new styles and develop crushes on bags, visiting them a few times in the store before we buy them.”

Clutch’s Hollywood Regency design aesthetic (think black and white wallpaper, bold orange walls and black lacquer accent furniture) provides an elegant backdrop for the store's totes, hobos, clutches and bucket bags, and it’s the perfect place to pay your handbag crush a visit or two.

I developed a few crushes of my own, but couldn’t wait for a second visit, so I purchased two Elliot Lucca bags for myself: one made of distressed amber leather and the other a slick, black patent structured tote.

Prices in the store range from under $30 for sweet leather coin purses to $850 for glossy, oversized patent-leather totes from CC Skye. Other notable designs include a soft gray messenger bag from Shih by Stephanie Lin ($525) and the Moss Snake clutch from Alexis Hudson ($395). Over the next few months, other lines will debut, including Hayden-Harnett, Rebecca Minkoff, Tracy Reese and Dulce.