Where to Shop
Named the first Unesco City of Design in August 2005, Buenos Aires takes its presentation seriously. For shopping, most locals (and tourists) head to any number of large shopping centres (or malls) :
- Gallerias Pacifico - Avenida Florida, the pedestrian mall in the centre of the city and a good tourist trap for leather sellers pushing a whole array of leather products. Watch out for gypsies and bad money change agents callng out “cambio”
- Abasto - Avenida Corrientes, in Abasto is perhaps the largest of the city shopping centres and often packed on a weekend
- Patio Bullrich - Avenida del Libertador, Recoleta, for poncy labels at high prices and for spotting old Recoleta “antiques” barely still breathing, wrapped up in their fur coats and Chanel suits, doddling along or sipping coffee contemplating their next round of plastic surgery
- Paseo Alcorta - Avenida Alcorta, Palermo Chico is reasonable and has a large Carrefour superstore
- Alto Palermo - Avenida Santa Fe, Palermo is also reasonably large with most of the same retailers as elsewhere
Avenida Cordoba around the intersection of Avenida Scalabrini Ortiz offers up a whole sleuth of outlet stores.
Lavalle intersection with Larrea is an area dedicated to material & cloth merchants where jewish owners dominate.
For furniture, check out Avenida Belgrano between Avenida 9 de Julio as far as Avendia Jujuy, for cheap and cheerful furniture and a broad range of not so expensive no designer furniture.
For shoes, Marina Palmer, the author of the 2005 memoir “Kiss and Tango: Looking for Love in Buenos Aires,” recommends the tango dancer Alicia Muñiz’s intimate Comme Il Faut , Arenales 1239, tel 4815-5690. The tiny leopard-skin-decorated store, upstairs on a small Recoleta alley, specializes in sexy tango shoes with stiletto heels of at least 2¾ inches (about 260 pesos).
The Colegiales neighborhood’s Dorrego market, at Dorrego and Zapiola (check Centro Metropolitano de Diseño, a converted garage, regularly houses shows of local housewares and clothing designers.
Nearby Palermo SoHo is packed with shops selling clothes by young Argentine designers. Felix , Gurruchaga 1670, tel 4832-2994, hits a Williamsburg-goes-B.A. vibe, with stylish sneakers (219 to 239 pesos) and retro T-shirts (65 pesos).
