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Souvenir Market
You're unlikely to find any incredible bargains at the sanitised market behind the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood, but you will find a great selection of handicrafts, Soviet paraphernalia and other souvenirs. And you are encouraged to haggle with the vendors, some of whom are also the artists. The vendors speak enough English to barter back.
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Spinning Wheel
A lovely little store selling handmade sweaters, gloves and hats, all made from downy wool, as well as linen dresses and blouses. Blankets, tablecloths and other household linens are also for sale. The stuff is simple but lovely, and prices are reasonable.
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Sportivny On Liteyny
This is a huge store selling sports clothes, running shoes, camping and hunting supplies, 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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St Petersburg Artist
Dedicated to preserving and promoting the tradition of realist art, this museum and exhibition centre showcases local artists that 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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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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Sytny Market
This colourful market on the Petrograd Side sells almost everything from fruit, vegetables, meat and fish inside to electronics, clothing and knick-knacks outside. Its name means 'sated' market, quite understandably.
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Titanik
The chain store Titanik has a great selection of CDs and DVDs - the only drawback is that they are all behind glass and if your Russian isn't good it's very hard to tell what things are just by reading the spines. There are outlets all over the city, including one on the Petrograd Side.
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Udelnaya Fair
Bargain-hunters, antique-lovers and second-hand scavengers will love Udelnaya Fair, a vast, informal flea market. Stalls are filled with cheap clothing and other goods from Europe, but outside, loads of people bring their old stuff to see if they can find any takers for the trash and treasures. To get there, exit the metro station to the right and cross the train tracks.
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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.
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Versace
Versace have definitely bagged one of the best retail premises in town: the sumptuous Rossi pavilion of the Anichkov Palace, overlooking Nevsky pr and the palace grounds.
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Vladimirsky Passage
Walking into this centre from the chaotic street outside you'll be forgiven for thinking you've passed through a portal to another world. Over 100 stores sell designer clothing, imported food products and other fancy stuff. Shoppers linger at sushi bars and coffee shops, including an outlet of Baltic Bread .
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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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Writers' Bookshop
Specialising in foreign literature, this place is one of the few that carries titles by your favourite Lonely Planet authors. Besides top-notch travel guides, you'll also find an excellent selection of English-language literature, including English translations of Russian classics and contemporary bestsellers.
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Yakhont
From this building, Carl Fabergé dazzled the imperial family and the rest of the world with his extraordinary bespoke designs. Yakhont has no link to the Fabergé family, but it is carrying on the tradition anyway. This long, dark salon provides an impressive showcase of their work.
