SHOPPING

Shopping

Shopping in Moscow is surprisingly rewarding. This previously deprived nation loves shopping and Moscow's city centre has numerous malls and upmarket boutiques, offering all the big name brands and some pricey local produce.

The GUM building in Red Square hosts Hugo Boss, Dior and Calvin Klein. Tverskaya Ulitsa, running north from Red Square, is Moscow�s most trendy shopping street. More modest, high-street fashions such as Benetton, Guess, Nike and Reebok, are available from Okhoktny Ryad, under Manezh Square. Izmailovskii Park has a market at the weekends, selling traditional Russian arts and crafts (such as nesting dolls) as souvenirs.

Eliseev Gastronome was an 1880s palace and retains many of its original features, such as curling marble pillars and candelabras, but is now an exclusive supermarket where visitors mights find the finest Russian vodka or caviar; the Cheremushinsky Rynok market also sells fresh local produce. Warehouses in the suburbs sell cheap electronic goods, DVDs and software, as do vendors at the Gorbushkin Dvor market.

Shops are generally open Monday to Saturday from 9am to 6pm; some larger retailers stay open till 8pm, many smaller shops are closed between 1pm and 3pm. Ensure that all necessary export permits are in order, and beware of purchasing illegally manufactured/pirated goods.