Barcelona

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Shopping tips and trends

Great shopping is nothing new in Barcelona. Ever since the Middle Ages it has been a city of craftsmen and traders, and though modern shoppers may be seeking Camper shoes rather than fishermen’s clogs, it remains one of the top commercial destinations on the Mediterranean.

Design for life
Nowhere beats Barcelona for sharp, original design. For anyone who aspires to an apartment resembling a designer bar, Vinçon and BD Ediciones de Diseño have the slickest furniture and household goods and are both located in stunning Modernista buildings.

 

For something quirky, try the eccentric collections at Ici et Là. The Mercado del Borne (www.mercadodelborne.com) grabs the zeitgeist with constantly changing collections of independent design and art from all over the world.

 

Neighbourhood watch
Shops in Barcelona match their context so neatly that they can almost seem to be part of a giant themed architectural park. The Eixample’s expansive boulevards and Modernista architecture complement its wealth of upmarket designer furniture, fashion and homeware stores – here, even the more prosaic pharmacies and grocers’ are minor architectural miracles. Passeig de Gràcia is becoming known as one of the world’s great shopping avenues, studded with Spanish stars such as the redoubtable Adolfo Domínguez along with countless international luminaries. Running parallel, Rambla de Catalunya boasts lingerie shops, chains and upmarket stores.

The Barri Gòtic’s narrow streets and restored medieval spaces are home to a jumble of small craft shops, antique dealers and specialist outlets selling anything from religious candles to carnival masks and anchovy-flavoured bonbons. Crossing over Via Laietana to the Born, the terrain becomes noticeably more design-oriented with an ever-changing selection of boutique fashion, accessories, furniture and shoes. A victim of its own success, the Born buzz has recently been attracting some of the bigger chains.

 

The new frontier lies across the fashion vacuum of La Rambla, in the Raval, particularly in the newly manicured area between the MACBA and C/Carme where independent designers showcase experimental art and clothes. The rest of the area is noticeably edgier and still holds fast to its bohemian aesthetic with plenty of music shops, second-hand outlets and ethnic wares reflecting the global broil of immigrants who live there.

 

For a friendly touch, the village-like environments of Sarrià and Gràcia give an intimacy to antique or clothes shopping while at the other end of the scale, the wide open spaces of Plaça de Catalunya or the shoreline lend themselves to large-scale commerce at malls such as Diagonal Mar and Maremàgnum, not forgetting Spain’s department store behemoth, El Corte Inglés.

 

Opening hours
Increasing numbers of shops are adopting a European timetable and staying open through the siesta period, although most small independent stores still stick to the traditional opening times of 10am-2pm and 5-8pm Monday to Saturday. Don’t be surprised to see many shutters down on Saturday afternoons, especially in the summertime. Many shops close for at least two weeks in August. Except for the run up to Christmas, Sunday opening is still limited to shops in tourist zones such as La Rambla and the Maremàgnum. Many newspaper kiosks, bakeries and flower stalls are open Sunday mornings and many convenience stores stay open all day.

 

Shop tactics
Bargain-hunters should note that sales (rebaixes or rebajas) begin after the retail orgy of Christmas and Epiphany, running from 7 January to mid February, and again during July and August. Barcelona’s tourist offices stock free Shopping Guide booklets with an accompanying map and advice on everything from how to get your VAT refund at the airport to using the Barcelona Shopping Line bus.

 

Paying away
When the euro came in, anything that had previously cost 100 pesetas was cunningly rounded up to one euro – an overnight price hike of 66 per cent. In other words, cheap shopping in Barcelona is a thing of the past, although at least local wines and home-grown designs like Zara, Mango and Camper are still significantly less pricey here than abroad.

 

Bargaining should only be attempted at the Els Encants flea-market or when haggling over Sagrada Família snowglobes on La Rambla; in shops, prices are fixed. As long as you’re spending over €10 or so, all but the most cobwebby of places now accept major credit cards. Almost nowhere has chip-and-pin machines installed yet, but you will be required to show some form of picture ID.

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