Close to 150 retail outlets operate in the city center. Stores sell fashion clothing and accessories, jewelry, furniture, hi-fi and electronic equipment, records and books, handicrafts and gifts, art and antiques. They are mostly on street level but are starting to gain higher floors. Buildings or groups of buildings are devoted to department stores. Starting from the conservation area, stores are spreading to other areas to culminate in the 100,000-sq m (1.09-million sq ft) Souks of Beirut. High-tech products, avant-garde designs, sophisticated decoration and display and attractive signage, are turning the city center into the most interesting shopping destination in Beirut and the Middle East.