Shopping Guide to Ukraine

Ukraine has a total consumer market of about 48 million people, which explains why its shopping centers and shopping facilities are so excellent. By any standards, some of the shopping centers in Ukraine will leave you breathless. With endless choices of designer clothes or handmade arts and crafts, woodwork and paintings, you are bound to find what you are looking for and more.

Generally artwork is the best buy in Ukraine. Top-quality paintings, ceramics and jewelry may be purchased quite cheaply at numerous art galleries or direct from the artists on the street. Just make sure that you will be able to get past customs when trying to take the artwork back to your home country.

Ukraine also has a few very interesting markets, with all sorts of interesting goods available to buy. The lively farmers’ market sells the freshest fruits, vegetables, meat, cheese, eggs, and the most beautiful flowers.

Be sure to visit some of Ukraine’s awesome shopping centers. The Alta Center was the first shopping mall in the Ukrainian capital. Along with numerous clothes shops, it also caters for sports wear, footwear, cosmetics and perfumery, and souvenirs. It also has a huge supermarket, two department stores and numerous restaurants with all sorts of different delectable cuisines. But the real attraction to the Alta center is the Gallery of Ukrainian Fashion Designers’ boutiques. It is the fashion lab that hosts all the main fashion events in the capital.

Large state or department stores in Ukraine tend to open on Mondays to Fridays from 08:00 am – 19:00 pm, whereas small boutiques are generally open 09:00 am – 18:00 pm. But you will find that some shops mostly in tourist areas will stay open as late as 20:00 pm.

Also be sure to have some cash on you, as most stores do not accept credit cards. Generally only a few restaurants and hotels accept them.

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