Shopping in Spain
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Gamaya
A breath of fresh laid-back Ibiza air runs through this new ladies’ wear store tucked away on a street that has gone from near abandonment in the 1990s to become a delightful shopping lane today. The lady who runs this shop designs the breezy summer dresses, pants-and-tops combinations and prints herself.
reviewed
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Los Bebés de Chamberí
This small shop showcases that wonderful individuality of Spanish children’s clothes; you’ll leave laden with bags for your own kids and for friends back home.
reviewed
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Mercat de la Boqueria
Shop in the Mercat de la Boqueria, one of the world’s great produce markets, and complement with any other necessities from a local supermarket.
reviewed
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Sergio Aranda
Trained in the art of jewellery creation in Switzerland, Aranda produces an original line of goods, including jewellery made using ancient coins. He also specializes in pearls, making all sorts of original and even daring necklaces and other items for ladies looking for something combining the extroverted and unique with the classic.
reviewed
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El Rastro
A Sunday morning at El Rastro is a Madrid institution. You could easily spend an entire morning inching your way down the Calle de la Ribera de Curtidores and through the maze of streets that hosts El Rastro flea market every Sunday morning. Cheap clothes, luggage, old flamenco records, even older photos of Madrid, faux designer purses, grungy T-shirts, household goods and electronics are the main fare. For every 10 pieces of junk, there’s a real gem (a lost masterpiece, an Underwood typewriter) waiting to be found.
Antiques are also a major drawcard for traders and treasure hunters alike with a concentration of stores at Nuevas Galerías and Galerías Piquer; most of…
reviewed
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Coquette
With its spare, cut-back and designer look, this fashion store is automatically attractive in its own right. Women will love to browse through casual, feminine wear by such designers as Tsunoda, Vanessa Bruno, Chloé Baño and Hoss Intropia.
reviewed
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El Corte Inglés
In the great tradition of department stores the world over, there’s everything you need here from food and furniture to clothes, appliances, toiletries, electronics, books and music. Although you’ll pay extra for the convenience of one-stop shopping, the after-sales service is better than most.
reviewed
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Iñaki Sampedro
Arguably Spain’s most colourful and innovative collection of hand-painted handbags and other accessories are available at this wonderful little shop. They’re not cheap, but are unmistakably Spanish and superstylish.
reviewed
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Calle Calderería Nueva
Calle Calderería Nueva is lined by teterías (Middle Eastern-style teahouses) and shops brimming with slippers, hookahs, jewellery and North African pottery. Stop for a Moroccan mint tea.
reviewed
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Xampany
Since 1981, this ‘Cathedral of Cava’ has been distributing bubbly to the local citizenry. It’s a veritable Aladdin’s cave of cava (Catalan version of champagne), with bottles of the stuff crammed high and into every possible chaotic corner of this dimly lit locale.
reviewed
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Nu Sabates
A couple of modern-day Catalan cobblers have put together some original handmade leather shoes (and a handful of bags and other leather items) in their stylish locale.
reviewed
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FNAC
This four-storey megastore has a terrific range of CDs ranging from flamenco and world music to classical, as well as DVDs, video games, electronic equipment and books (including English-language titles); there’s a large children’s section on the 4th floor.
reviewed
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Mercado Central
The Plaza de Topete adjoins the large, animated Mercado Central, built in 1837, the oldest covered market in Spain.
reviewed
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El Corte Inglés
For general shopping, trendy clothes and shoes, try pedestrianised El Corte Inglés.
reviewed
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Zara
Popular men’s, women’s and kids’ wear with a sideline in homewares.
reviewed
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Art Market
Sells local art and prints of the greats.
reviewed
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Mercantic
Antique collectors could set aside a Sunday morning for a trip to Mercantic, a collection of gaily painted timber huts occupied by antique and bric-a-brac dealers selling everything from restored furniture to dusty old telephones. The first Sunday of the month is delivery day, when the stall-holders take delivery of a new wave of old stuff. The permanent market, with some 80 stall holders, is open during the week too (9.30am to 8pm Tuesday to Saturday, 9.30am to 3pm Sunday). There’s also an activities and play area for children. A date to watch is the Antiquaris Barcelona antiques fair usually held between late March and the first week of April.
reviewed
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Mercat de Santa Caterina
reviewed
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Portal de l’Àngel
This is one of the annual markets that is worth looking out for. For 10 days in mid-May (dates change each year), stands set up in the Portal de l’Àngel for the Fira del Llibre Antic (Antique Book Fair). The same spot hosts the Fira de Terrissa (Pottery Fair), which lasts for five days starting around 20 September, coinciding with the Festes de la Mercè and the similar Fira de Ceràmica Creativa (Ceramicists Fair), around 23 December to 5 January.
reviewed
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Zara
Fashion fans may want to make the pilgrimage to the original Zara, in A Coruña’s main shopping area at the southwest end of the isthmus. Opened in 1975, it today looks much like the other 1400 Zara shops around the world. This was the small beginning for Galician Amancio Ortega’s mega-successful Inditex group, which has since launched Pull&Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius and other international brands but still has its headquarters in Arteixo on A Coruña’s outskirts.
reviewed
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Jordi Labanda Store
Uruguay-born and Barcelona-raised cartoonist Jordi Labanda made a name for himself with his colourful pointed portraits of contemporary 30-somethings in top-flight magazines and newspapers, and murals in the Sandwich & Friends fastish food chain. Now he also does original women’s clothes, in which he has toned down the colours but remains playful in design. In all his work there is an element of biting social commentary, so these are thinking-women’s clothes!
reviewed
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Gil
You don’t see them much these days, but the exquisite fringed and embroidered mantones and mantoncillos (traditional Spanish shawls worn by women on grand occasions) and delicate mantillas (Spanish veils) are stunning and uniquely Spanish gifts. Gil also sells abanicos (Spanish fans). Inside this dark shop, dating back to 1880, the sales clerks still wait behind a long counter to attend to you; the service hasn’t changed in years and that’s no bad thing. Our only complaint? Kitsch tourist souvenirs (T-shirts and the like) have made an appearance here.
reviewed
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Plaisir Gourmet
This is not your ordinary delicatessen. With products from every corner of the globe, you’ll find all manner of things that you didn’t know existed (who knew that essence of cotton from Mali could be used in cooking?) or can’t find anywhere else in Madrid. At noon on Saturday, it has tastings of wine and cheese, a nod to the shop’s French owners. In 2008 this stylish place won second prize for Madrid’s best deli.
reviewed
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Mercat de la Llibertat
reviewed