I'm all for guerilla stores, but guerilla department stores?  Well, kind of.  The Dover Street Market, a 13,000-square-foot "department store" conceived by Kawakubo, is a permanent London fixture, not a pop up, but it's got that same industrial chic spirit in spades.  Commes des Garçons' merch dominates, but Kawakubo has also asked hotter-than-thou names like Raf Simons, Thom Browne, and Junya Watanabe to the pared-down party.  Each designer has been allotted a plywood-and-steel "mini-boutique" (more of an unfinished corner) to make his or her own.  It's a bit like stumbling upon couture in a construction site.  Clearly not your average department store!

I must admit, Dover Street can be an intimidating shopping experience.  It is most certainly not a market, at least not in the usual grubby, hands-on-bargaining sense of "market."  Prices for the wares found here are definitely not negotiable.  But you do get that one-stop-shop, everything-under-one-roof market feel; it's a great place to pick up clothing, jewelry, shoes, gifts, and even (despite the lack of much décor) home décor items like Hedi Slimane furniture.

If all that industrial minimalism is grinding on your nerves, head up to the cute-as-a-button Rose Bakery on the fourth floor for a shopping-break snack.  Their salads, quiches, breads, and lush cakes (mmm....carrot cake) will give you a dose of earthly sustenance to counterbalance those steel beams and brick walls.

When you're ready to check out, take your treasures to the central checkout space, which is really just a corrugated tin shack!  Just don't be shocked when your total bill doesn't exactly match the post-industrial detritus.

Rachel Levin contributed to this story