Shopping in St Petersburg
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Pushkinskaya 10
This legendary locale is a required stop for anyone who is interested in the contemporary art and music scene in St Petersburg. The former apartment block – affectionately called by its former street address – contains studio and gallery space, as well as the cool music clubs Fish Fabrique and Experimental Sound Gallery (GEZ-21) and an assortment of other shops. It offers a unique opportunity to hang out with local musicians and artists, who are always eager to talk about their work. The story of Pushkinskaya 10 goes back to 1988, when a group of artists/squatters took over the condemned apartment block. The decrepit building became ‘underground central’, as artists…
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Vanity
Vanity has been around for more than a decade, opening boutiques inside the city's finer hotels and shopping centres. But in 2007, this name in fashion became a name in architecture, dining and culture. Vanity's latest endeavour is its largest store yet, housed in a modern structure of glass and steel, tucked in behind Kazan Cathedral. Everything here is jaw-dropping gorgeous, from the all-designer-all-the-time fashions for sale, to the perfectly-coiffed beauties selling them.
Be sure to stop by the 5th-floor Terrassa for a cocktail or a coffee before you hit your credit limit.
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Wild Orchid
Underwear is yet another measure of Russia’s amazing transition to capitalism. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all, baggy cotton briefs; sensational, sexy lingerie is on sale all over St Petersburg (and often modelled by women on the street). This top-of-the-line store carries lingerie by European designers that is devastatingly sensual (and devastatingly expensive). There are several other outlets around town, including one in Grand Palace and one on the Petrograd Side.
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Kisselenko Fashion Salon
Designer Lilia Kisselenko uses sublimely simple fabrics to create women’s clothing that is at once linear and flatteringly feminine. This is a name to watch out for – she’s not quite flashy enough to appeal to the New Russian nouveau riche (who don’t care for Russian products anyway), but rather caters to connoisseurs with a discerning eye and upper-class fashion sensibility. If you like this place, check out Kisselenko’s other boutique, Defile.
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Bon Vin
With low ceilings and exposed brick, this little wine cellar is an atmospheric place to pick out a bon vin. There is no shortage of grands crus and pricey reserves if you are shopping for a special occasion, but head to the sale rack in the centre of the store for excellent French, Spanish and Italian wines that you can afford to drink every day. There is another outlet in Smolny and one on the Petrograd Side.
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Chocolate Museum - City Centre
Despite the misnomer, this place is not a museum. While you are welcome to come inside to peruse the artistic pieces, it is unlikely you will leave without procuring your very own chocolate chess set or chocolate 'Fabergé' egg. This outlet is in the basement of the Stroganov Palace, but there are others inside Gostiny Dvor and Passage . So rest assured, you'll have no trouble finding that chocolate bust of Vladimir Ilych.
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Plyos Embassy
Plyos is a town on the Volga River, celebrated as the inspiration for Isaak Levitan, Russia’s greatest landscape artist. This little gallery acts as the town’s unofficial representative in St Petersburg, exhibiting landscape paintings by local and national artists. While the work is not particularly innovative, it is indeed beautiful, capturing the most magnificent moments in the Russian countryside.
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Natalie Kvasova
When it comes to winter hats, Russian fashion really comes into its own. Nowhere in the world are women so expressive with their headgear as on the snowy streets of St Petersburg and Moscow. The designs of Natalie Kvasova are up there with the best of them, sporting feathers and fur, bows and brims. This boutique also carries a small selection of fur coats and wraps warm enough to get you through any winter.
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Parfionova
Tatyana Parfionova was the first St Petersburg couturier to have her own fashion house back in the 1990s, when the New Russians turned up their noses at anything that was not straight from Paris or Milan. Now this local celebrity showcases her stuff at her Nevsky pr boutique, where you’ll find her striking monochromatic prêt-à-porter designs as well as her famous crimson scarves.
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Imperial Porcelain
This famous factory has an outlet shop on site, where you get anything from the company catalogue at prices lower than in the department stores. You’ll also find a branch of the Hermitage here. From the metro, turn left (east), walk under the bridge to the embankment, then left – the factory’s ahead. If you don’t want to drag yourself this far out, go to either of its city centre shops.
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Soldier of Fortune
The extensive selection of guns and knives at this little shop is impressive, if a little frightening. Check out the knives with intricately carved handles; penknives straight out of James Bond; and machetes with names such as ‘Predator Axe’. The place also carries more mundane equipment like binoculars and water bottles, as well as all manner of camouflage clothing and military souvenirs.
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City Centre Shops
This famous factory has an outlet shop on site, where you get anything from the company catalogue at prices lower than in the department stores. You’ll also find a branch of the Hermitage here. From the metro, turn left (east), walk under the bridge to the embankment, then left – the factory’s ahead. If you don’t want to drag yourself this far out, go to either of its city centre shops.
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Sportivny on Liteyny
This is a huge store selling sports clothes, running shoes, camping and hunting equipment, skis and even the occasional mosquito-net hat (which could come in handy in the city, even if it looks a tad odd!). With an excellent selection (including Russian and imported products) and competitive pricing, this sports shop is a great place for active types to stock up for their urban or outdoor adventures.
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Rive Gauche
Yves Saint-Laurent does not seem to mind that this Russian company has stolen the name of its well-known perfume and used it to set up an extensive network of shops selling brand-name cosmetics. With more than 30 shops around the city, you’re never far from a new bottle of Chanel No 5. There are additional outlets near pl Vosstaniya and on the Petrograd Side.
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Stockmann
Once a lifeline for foreign residents, this Finnish department store is now hardly distinguishable from its Russian counterparts. Nonetheless, it’s not a bad place to shop for clothing, homewares and other miscellany, even though it’s not exactly the same stuff you would find in Helsinki. At the time of research, a huge new Stockmann department store was being built at pl Vosstaniya.
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Defile
If you are into fashion and you are in search of a uniquely Russian souvenir, this sweet boutique is the place to come. Owned by designer Lilia Kisselenko, of Kisselenko Fashion Salon, Defile carries elegant and eclectic clothing and accessories – almost exclusively by Russian designers. This shop also hosts the biannual fashion event, Defile on the Neva.
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Mekhlandia
The Russian word mekh means ‘fur’, so the name of this place translates as Fur-land, evoking a sort of animal-run amusement park. Alas, this place is no fun for animals, as it contains a huge selection of fur and leather clothing, especially coats, hats and handbags. (We know it’s not nice to kill animals, but it gets you through the brutal Russian winter.)
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St Petersburg Artist
Dedicated to preserving and promoting the tradition of realist art, this museum and exhibition centre showcases local artists who painted from the 1950s to the 1990s. Most featured artists have been exhibited in venues as famous as the Russian Museum and Moscow’s Tretyakov. The gallery also publishes the magazine St Petersburg Artist and hosts occasional concerts.
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Bee-Keeping
Step into this sweet shop and you won’t be able to resist taking home some honey to your honey (or for yourself). You can sample many different flavours of honey from all over Russia, and there are also natural remedies, creams and teas made from beeswax and pollen. If you are so inspired, you can also buy the necessary equipment to set up your own pchelovodstvo.
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Soldier of Fortune
Strangely, this weaponry store seems unrelated to the store of the same name in Vosstaniya, and frankly, you have to wonder about a town that has enough demand to support two such stores. Nonetheless, here is another place that has everything a modern-day Rambo could wish for, including GPS devices, Swiss army knives and camping gizmos.
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Lend
This is the best supermarket in the city centre, located under the giant Vladimirsky Passage shopping centre. You can get everything from fresh pasta and Italian pesto to a reasonably priced bottle of Sancerre. There’s also sushi available, not to mention an aquarium full of perch and pike waiting to be someone’s supper.
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Chocolate Museum - Bezymyanny
The name is something of a misnomer, as this is a shop and the aim of its displays are to make you salivate and get your cash out. The amazing chocolate designs (including a bust of Lenin in white chocolate) are worth a look, although only employing black doormen (geddit?!) is a typically Russian idea of humour that will misfire with most Westerners.
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Military Shop
In a city with men in uniform on every street corner, this is where you can get yours (the uniform that is!). Buy stripy sailor tops, embroidered badges, big boots, camouflage jackets and snappy caps at decent prices. Look for the circular green and gold sign with ‘Military Shop’ written in English; the entrance is in the courtyard.
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Kailas
Principally a music shop, Kailas has an impressive selection of contemporary and classical music from around the world, which covers all genres; the specialities seem to be classical, jazz, indie-Russian and ‘ethnic’ music. Oddly enough, the store also has an ‘Eastern department’, which sells incense, jewellery and clothing from the exotic East.
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Lomonosova China Factory
This famous factory has an outlet shop on site, where you get anything from the company catalogue at prices lower than those in the department stores. You'll also find a branch of the Hermitage here. From the metro, turn left (east), walk under the bridge to the embankment then turn left again - you'll see the factory ahead of you.
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