Rio De Janeiro Shopping

Rio De Janeiro Shopping information

Best Areas

Rio de Janeiro's rich enclave can be found in the Ipanema district and shops around here cater to the well-heeled people who live, work and play around here. For elegant fashion items and accessories the place to go is Rua Visconde de Pirajá in Ipanema. It is here that jewellers H Stern and Amsterdam Sauer have their glittering showrooms. Designer clothes and top-quality leather goods can be obtained from the smaller malls on this street, such as Forum de Ipanema where designer beachwear can also be found. Another street housing stylish boutiques is Rua Nossa Senhora de Copacabana.

Markets

At the other end of the scale are the street markets or feiras where stalls are packed with handicrafts and artwork. The best known is the Feira Hippie, the Hippy Market, at Praça General Osório in Ipanema where there are hundreds of stalls crowded with goods from Rio and beyond. Open Sundays 09h00 to 18h00. Another extremely popular market is the Feira Nordestino, the Northeastern Market, where traditional goods from that region can be haggled over. More than just a market, there's food, drink and live music, all of it authentically regional in keeping with the theme. Campo de São Cristóvão, Sun 06h00-15h00. The Feirarte Copacabana near the beachfront is a popular place with visitors looking for traditional souvenirs. The artists huddle over their works, often working on their latest masterpiece as they sell their other pieces. Plenty of paintings, woodcarvings and jewellery. On Avenida Atlântica, Ipanema. Open: 19h00-00h00.

Malls

These huge malls offer not only a vast array of shops but useful services such as post offices, pharmacies, children's entertainment and food halls. The giant Rio Sul mall, Rio's oldest, can be found at Av. Lauro Muller 116, Botafogo. Tel: +55 (0)21-2545-7256. Open Mon-Sat, 10h00-22h00 and Sun 15h00-21h00. Barra Shopping has over 400 shops as well as cinemas, a bowling alley, medical centre and mini fairground for the kids. Barra Shopping, Av. das Américas, Barra da Tijuca. Open Mon-Sat, 10h00-22h00 and Sun 15h00-21h00. For information: Tel: +55 (0)21-3089-1050. Both malls have courtesy buses that pick up from the major hotels.

What to Buy

Rio is a shopper's heaven and literally everything is up for grabs on its main streets and malls. However, there are a few things that you should look out for, that make perfect souvenirs of a visit to the city. Gems Brazil produces some of the most beautiful precious stones on earth and H Stern and Amsterdam Sauer on Rua Visconde de Pirajá show them off to best effect. The former offers a guided tour showing their workshops while the latter has a reconstruction of a mine showing how the gems are discovered. Swimwear You're in Rio and you want to look like a local, not someone's Victorian cousin. This means a trip to one of the many beachwear outlets for one of those skimpily cut suits. There's a vast selection of styles and colours and a whole language to go with. Forget bikinis, you'll soon be fluent in skinkinis, tankinis and a few others. Try the famous Bum-Bum label for flattering little numbers, or Salinas and Blueman for men and women. Handicrafts Most of the street markets offer a selection of artwork from across the country. Best buys are wooden bowls, leather sandals, jewellery and hand-printed sarongs. Pick up northeastern specialities such as hand-woven hammocks, lace products and musical instruments from the Feira do Nordestino. Foods It's highly unlikely that you'll be taking home mountains of exquisite fruit and succulent cuts of meat that Brazil is famous for, but there are some ingredients that will go a long way to recreating some of the dishes. Dendê oil, used in Bahian cooking, can be found at most supermarkets along with the all important and fiery malagueta chilli sauce. Mixed seasonings for barbecued meats can be bought in lightweight packets as can guaraná em pó, powdered guarana from the Amazon region, an invigorating additive that gives you a buzz. Music Music is an integral part of Brazil's culture; there's no escaping it. And why would you want to? Music stores are everywhere; try Saraiva, which has stores around the city and a megastore at Rio Sul mall. There are often great bargains on older recordings. A traditional musical instrument is an unusual and discerning souvenir - if you can play it it's an added bonus. Try your hand at a percussion instrument such as the berimbau, or the small four-stringed cavaquinho, or something easier like the pandeiro, a large tambourine often decorated with the Brazilian flag. If luggage space is a problem, there's always the Carnival whistle. Check out the street markets or specialist shops such as Maracatu Brasil at Rua Ipiranga 49, Laranjeiras. Tel: +55 (0)21-2557-4754.

Opening Hours

General stores are open from 09h00-19h00 Mon- Fri and 09h00-13h00 Sat. Supermarkets are open from 08h00-22h00 Mon-Sat. Some open on Sundays and a few are open 24 hours. Shopping centres generally open from Mon-Fri 10h00-22h00. The largest shopping centres in Rio including Barra Shopping and Rio Sul are also open on Sundays from 15h00-21h00.

Tax Refund

A refund of Sales Tax for tourists has recently been under discussion by the Brazilian government but at present there is no scheme whereby you can recover tax paid on goods or services while in the country.