Shopping in Madrid
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Casa de Diego
This classic shop has been around since 1858, making, selling and repairing Spanish fans, shawls, umbrellas and canes. Service is old style and occasionally grumpy, but the fans are works of antique art. They have another shop and workshop nearby.
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Bombonerías Santa
If your style is as refined as your palate, the exquisite chocolates in this tiny shop will satisfy. The packaging is every bit as pretty as the bombones within, but they’re not cheap – count on paying around €60 per kilo of chocolate.
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Calzados Cantero
A charming old-world shoe store, Calzados Cantero sells a range of shoes at rock-bottom prices. But it’s most famous for its rope-soled alpargatas (espadrilles), which start from €6.50. This is a barrio classic, the sort of store to which parents bring their children as their own parents did a generation before.
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Martel Kee
It’s a strange fact of Spanish life that French Connection has yet to open its own store in Spain. Until it does, head to this small boutique, which also has other stylishly casual lines.
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Sybilla
One of the more original Spanish designers, who combines local and international styles with strong, Spanish colours and deceptively simple pieces with stylish cuts that stand out in the crowd.
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Piamonte
One of the favourite shoe shops of Madrileñas looking for that special something for an important occasion. This is one of the major standard-bearers for Chueca’s sense of style.
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Amantis.Net
A fairly standard gay sex shop, Amantis.Net is open to the street; by entering, there’s no sense that you’re doing anything illicit, as can be the case with other sex shops.
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Carmen Sánchez
This charming little boutique is typical of La Latina – sophisticated jewellery with the occasional quirky twist. Silver, enamel and beautiful colour combinations are the hallmark.
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Divina Providencia
Divina Providencia has moved seamlessly from fresh new face on the Madrid fashion scene to almost mainstream stylish, with fun clothes for women and strong retro and Asian influences.
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Librería de Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
Part of the stunning extension to the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, this outstanding shop is Madrid’s best gallery bookshop, with a range of posters and postcards as well.
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De Viaje
Whether you’re after a guidebook, a coffee-table tome or travel literature, De Viaje, Madrid’s largest travel bookshop, probably has it. Covering every region of the world, it has mostly Spanish titles, but plenty in English as well. Staff are helpful and there’s also a travel agency.
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Lurdes Bergada
Lurdes Bergada and Syngman Cucala, a mother-son designer team from Barcelona, offer classy and original men’s and women’s fashions using neutral colours and all-natural fibres. They’ve developed something of a cult following for their clothes that are stylish yet casual in a very Chueca kind of way. It’s difficult to leave without finding something that you just have to have. They have another branch in Malasaña.
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Manolo Blahnik
Nothing to wear to the Oscars? Do what many Hollywood celebrities do and head for Manolo Blahnik. The showroom is exclusive and each shoe is displayed like a work of art.
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El Tintero Niños
A few doors down from the El Tintero clothes store, El Tintero Niños takes the same colourful approach but with kids’ wear, from newborns to those aged 10 years.
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Booksellers (Chamberí)
This suburban bookshop has close to the largest selection of English-language titles in town, covering novels, history, travel literature and Spanish themes.
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Jesús del Pozo
For glamorous evening wear for ladies ( not ‘women’, we were informed by the shop assistant), it’s difficult to go past this Spanish designer.
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Imaginarium (Argüelles)
This wonderfully personal toy shop sells creative toys, books and games; it treats kids respectfully here, with separate entrances for kids and adults.
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Imaginarium (Salamanca)
This wonderfully personal toy shop sells creative toys, books and games; it treats kids respectfully here, with separate entrances for kids and adults.
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Adolfo Domínguez
The stylish shop of this inventive Spanish designer is where you'll find utterly casual and colourful designs for the consciously cool among us.
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Uno de 50
Close to where in-your-face Malasaña intersects with could-go-either-way Chueca, Uno de 50 offers up silver jewellery that wouldn’t look out of place in either barrio. It’s chunky and loud and not very subtle, but there are some great pieces here and they’re as original as the manner in which they’re displayed.
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Casa del Libro
Spain's answer to Borders has a large foreign-language (including English) literature section on the ground floor at the back.
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Petra’s International Bookshop
A wonderful little bookshop (with mostly secondhand stock), Petra’s has a great selection in all major languages and across most major genres; it’s also something of a meeting place for the lively expat community. The friendly owners can point you in the direction of activities in English and other languages. We also like a bookshop with a cat – Pet Ra is its name.
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Alma Aguilar
Alma Aguilar is a classy Madrid designer known for her stylish formal wear for women.
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Roberto Torretta
Specialises in romantic, yet practical design, combining casual and formal wardrobes.
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Roberto Verino
Roberto Verino is the purveyor of simple, classy designs for men and women.
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