Shopping in St Petersburg

Many of the most famous stores in St Petersburg hide behind richly embellished Italianate, art Nouveau or art deco facades. Popular purchases include vodka, caviar (although it is illegal to take it out of the country unless purchased at the airport or from speciality shops), lacquered homewares, woollen shawls and semi-precious stones, as well as the ubiquitous matrioshka dolls. There is also plenty of Soviet-era memorabilia on sale, though many items are modern reproductions. Prices for all goods are high by international standards, so take advantage of sales where possible.
Nevsky prospekt is the main shopping street, with numerous boutiques, department stores and book stores, including Dom Knigi, Nevsky prospekt 28, in the delightful Art Nouveau Singer Building. Further east on Nevsky prospekt, the pillared facade of the 18th-century Gostiny dvor hides a vast labyrinthine shopping arcade with hundreds of traders selling everything from clothes to alcohol and electronics. Immediately opposite is the 19th-century glass-roofed Passazh Arcade, with more of the same.