Shopping – All our local tips

When I started living in Barcelona I was not used to the Spanish commercial schedules at all. I still think the most of the stores here should change their opening times to the new people’s way of living. I can’t help to feel that stores don’t want to sell more than they do because they’re closed just when people are off, and are walking on the streets.

However, I know a secret that could save your life the same night you come late at home. When you open the fridge and then you realize it’s empty, don’t worry! You still have a last chance to find some bread, cheese and drinks at La Perla de Sant-Gervasi.

This place is not just another bakery. You will find there many types of canned supplies, all kind of drinks, some vegetables, snacks and confectionery or even… bread! As you see this is not just a tip but a great advice. Use it wisely.

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La Perla | Shopping
Santjoanistes 6 | Above diagonal | +34932371930
10:00 – 00:30 daily

Located in the heart of the Barceloneta just in front of the market, you will find this small and incredible bakery. I love bread, hand-made bread and here, I found truly good bread and all types of cakes I used to eat when I was living in Paris. Everything is absolutely delicious!

After years of looking for croissant made like in France, I finally found this bakery. Even if it’s not that close to my house, I go there almost every day to pick up some bread or whatever they do since everything is so good!

They do all type of products: baguettes, campaign bread, granary breads, dried fruits bread, croissants, chocolate breads, apple and chocolate cakes…

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Baluard | Shopping, Snacks
Calle Baluard, 38 | Barceloneta | +34932211208
Mon – Sat 08:00 – 21:00

Let them fry, cook and steam, but baking? No. Being all good in cheese and ham, it seems that the Spanish did totally forget about their bread.

After years of suffering white, boring and unhealthy, it took some people from Iceland to bring Barcelona the joy of baking: stylish Barcelona-Reykjavik bakari offers everything yummy and healthy; banana carrot scones, cakes, pastries, pizza, bread, quiche, vegan products, with sugar and without, everything comes overloaded with taste and good ingredients.

No recommendations, just this much: try everything! Maybe a bread is triple the price (about €6.00, price goes by weight) of a Spanish one, but be sure that your stomach is filled for half a day or more.

Apart from that, the personal is super friendly and helps you making your choice in this wonderland of plenty.

Everybody loves the healthy and delicious bread and that’s why Barcelona-Reykjavik opened a new great place in one of the most famous streets in Gracia (Calle Asturias, 20).

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Barcelona-Reykjavik | Shopping, Snacks | Bread € 6.00
Calle Doctor Dou 12 | El Raval | +34933020921
Mon – Sat 10:00 – 21:00

Get ready. I’m going to give you some information that you won’t find anywhere else. I want to recommend to you a very special place. I’m talking about Bocí, one of these places where is really easy to find quality and great care about products and service.

What would you like to taste today? It doesn’t matter how complicated is your appetite or how demanding is your palate, Bocí knows perfectly how to satisfy your needs.

As frequent customer I know that Bocí offers much more than what I’m used to consume there. If I have a high regard for somebody I go to Bocí to find some box of chocolates to make a special gift or perhaps some delicious birthday’s cake. It’s also a great place to have a breakfast or ask for food to take away packaged carefully.

The staff is polite and they take good care of every single detail to present their goods. It’s one of those places where you go and think “I don’t know where to start” because you feel tempted to ask almost everything. The price reflects its quality but I know you won’t regret to pay for it.

Enjoy.

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Bocí | Coffee & tea, Shopping
Vía Augusta 112 | Above diagonal | +34932371313
07:00 – 22:00 daily

One of many pleasures in Barcelona is buying wine from local bodegas. You can often sample the wines and have a snack while deciding which wines to buy. You can buy most Catalan varieties of wine from the barrel for between 1 and 3 euros a liter. Or, you can buy individual bottles, or a case of wine or cava, often at better prices than in supermarkets.

This small, friendly and popular bodega is just a few meters from John Lennon Square and a hundred meters or so from the Abaceria Market. They stock a very good selection of wines, cavas and spirits, catering for every taste and budget. They also serve tasty bites of fuet or llonganissa (sausage), or berberechos (cockles) or simple bocadillos (sandwiches). During the winter months they also serve hot caldo (thin soup). I often call in on the way to or from the market for a beer and a snack.

They regularly have special deals on wine and cava. It’s always worth checking out the prices when stocking up for a party. And it’s always fun to just check out some of the more obscure licores and spirits, colorfully stacked from floor to ceiling.

During the Gracìa festival this bodega sets up a little bar on the street and stays open long into the night.

I maybe shouldn’t tell you this – but this is where I’ve promised myself I shall buy a Balthazar of cava to help celebrate my daughter’s graduation from Oxford.

Go on … wander in … surprise yourself. You’ll be glad you did.

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Bodega E.Marin | Bars, Shopping, Snacks | Draft beer € 1.40
C/de Milà i Fontanals 72 | Gracia
Mon – Fri 09:00 – 14:00 & 16:30 – 21:00, Sat 09:30 – 15:00

“Tourists come in and want to know, ‘Is it a jewelry shop?’ ” Carles Mampel, the multi award-winning pastry-chef genius owner often jokes. And you’ll see why. The brightly lit, pristine interior displays edible artworks in glass cabinets.

Spurred by the deserved success of their shop and tapas bar in El Born Bubó has opened a shop in the Eixample. Situated on Calle Bruc on the corner with Calle Provenza, just off  Diagonal, Bubó sells beautiful cakes, mousses and chocolates such as you never seen or tasted before. Barcelona is home to many, many adventuresome chocolatiers but, for me, Bubó takes the biscuit.

For an unforgettable taste experience stop by for a coffee and a cake or mousse, or treat yourself, or your lover, or your mum, to a little box of exquisite chocolates. And relatively inexpensive when compared with other chocolate shops in the city. Well worth a visit.

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BUBÓ | Shopping, Snacks | Chocolate covered noodle lollipops from € 0.80
C/Bruc 150 | Eixample | +34934590508
Mon 15:00 – 21:00, Tue – Sat 09:30 – 21:00, Sun 09:30 – 15:00

Concepción market, situated between Calle Aragón and Calle Valencia, is 120 years old – though you wouldn’t know it as it has been thoroughly modernized. As well as housing a range of excellent cheese, fish, fruit, meat, veg and deli stalls, the market also has: 3 bars; a 24 hour florists (yep – flowers 24 hours a day, 363 days of the year); a large Caprabo supermarket; an electrical appliance store (selling freezers, pcs, washing-machines etc); an underground car-park, and, very interestingly, a well-organized book-crossing point with titles in English, French and German as well as Catalan and Spanish.

If you spend more than €10.00 at any stall you can claim a free car-park ticket. The market also hosts regular events such as tasting sessions and cookery workshops for kids. Well worth a visit if you like good food and want to avoid the crowded La Boqueria market on the Ramblas.

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Concepción market | Shopping | Free
Calle Aragó, 313-317 | Eixample | +34675693616
Mon 08:00 – 15:00, Tue – Fri 08:00 – 20:00, Sat 08:00 – 16:00

This place great tip if you love cooking international recipes at home, but can’t seem to find some of the ingredients because they are odd here (never mind how popular they are in other latitudes). I’m talking about DeliShop, the kind of food and cooking supplies store you were looking for.

DeliShop develops an interesting culinary and commercial concept (world cooking basics), ideal for a city like Barcelona where an important proportion of its population comes from so many and different places.

What would you like to eat today? Where does that flavour comes from? Let your appetite pick up the right destination: Maybe Japan or India, China, Thailand, North or South America? If you feel curious about other cultures you should go to the DeliShop and take a look. You will make a trip around the world at a glance.

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DeliShop | Art & culture, Shopping
Travessera de Gracia 141 | Gracia | +34932389945
Mon – Sat 11:00 – 21:00

Situated uptown, you will find this nice and colorful shop that sells products from different countries in the world. You can find clothes, accessories, food (ecologic products), books (quite spirituals), arts and craft objects, music, movies, decoration objects…

It’s a good place to get lost because they have a lot of curious stuff. And once you get tired there’s a beautiful garden at the back of the store where you can sit down and have a coffee (probably from Colombia or Brazil). It’s peaceful and romantic.

Also when you buy in Olokuti you are contributing to responsible consumption and to some ethics rules.

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El Olokuti | Coffee & tea, Shopping
Calle Asturies, 36 | Gracia | +34932170070
11:00 – 20:00 daily (closed for lunchtime)

Encants is Barcelona’s biggest flea market nearby the Torre Agbbar, Barcelona’s newest architectural high light made by the French star architect Jean Nouvel. Els “Encants Vells” is originally called “La Fira de Bellcaire” and is one of the oldest markets in Europe dating back to the 14th century. Now the market is bigger than 15.000m2 and has 100.000 visitors every week.

Going there is spending half a day looking and snooping for old treasures (books, clothes, furniture, kitchen accessories and many more).

It is not easy to orientate yourself between all these hundreds of little stands and people, but that’s maybe not necessary. Just get lost, let go- but watch your bag! There are always pickpockets around. Don’t be surprised, it’s very likely that you’ll find your stolen bike on sale.

If you are tired from your search for hodgepodge and knick-knacks, grab a coffee to go and sit down in the sun. Watch the people go by, have a chat with a local vendor and let time fly.

Soon enough you’ll find yourself back in Barcelona’s buzzing city centre with Zara’s and Mango’s at every street corner. But here in Encants enjoy time, freedom and atmosphere far beyond Barcelona’s shopping centers.

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Encants Vells market | Shopping
Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes, 8 (Glories Metro station) | Eixample
Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat 07:00 – 15:00

This is a typical example of a shop where you find yourself buying things you actually don’t need at all.

But when something so colorful, so exotic, and so cute crosses your way, you cannot overcome the temptation.

Inflatable plastic pandas and elephants from Japan, mini tools for all occasions from Korea, kitchen accessories from the former GDR, Chinese thermos flasks, and posters of different sexy hair styling ideas from India will brighten up you or your friends homes once you are back.

One can find more than 300 weird and surprising products from more than 20 countries on display, chosen and collected by the owners themselves and their friends.

Don’t bring home flamenco dolls and bulls anymore. Get some weird souvenirs at “Fantastik”!

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Fantastik | Shopping
Carrer Joaquim Costa, 62 | El Raval | +34933013068
Mon – Thu 11:00 – 14:00 & 16:00 – 21:00, Fri – Sat 11:00 – 21:00

Wandering through the streets of Barcelona you may ask yourself which city you have landed in. You will hear a mix of all languages and see all sorts of travellers. Barcelona has lots of visitors to cater for so when it comes to accommodation you won’t know where to start looking.

Having visited the city on several occasions, I would tend to steer away from cheap hostels. If I didn’t want to pay a fortune on accommodation, I would perhaps stay in a 2 or 3 star hotel. The 3-star hotel H10 Catalunya Plaza is located in the very heart of the Catalan capital and it is good value for money. It is the location that sells this hotel, but it also has a lot of other services which appeal to guests such as a restaurant, events rooms and conference facilities.

This very big store has a lot of different furniture and objects to decorate your house in a very original way. You will find all kind of plates, glasses, tablecloths, curtains, frames, mirrors, tables, armchairs, garlands, beds and much more.

The store is a mix between classical, bohemian, colonial and ethnic style. So you can be sure that you will find what you are looking for.

Everything matches in this store and it’s a pleasure to hang out there just for the eyes even if you are not going to buy anything.

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Maisons du Monde | Shopping
Via Diagonal, 405 | Eixample | +34933683207
Mon – Sat 10:00 – 20:30

Marina Maas is a very talented artist who has opened her own shop next to a lovely place in El Gotico.

Located in a street that looks like a fairy tale, you will find this lovely shop very similar to an Ali Baba cavern.

This incredible artist makes real masterpieces from almost any object. From a pan, a spoon, a fork or a breadboard, she creates wonderful pieces of art: paintings, collages, chairs, hat stands, tablecloths… Her very expressive paintings are mainly about women with big eyes and mouths. The whole shop is colorful, cheerful and happy. It gives you many ideas for decorating your house.

But this young lady does not have a regular schedule; you never know when she’s going to open her shop. It used to be around 9 -10 pm but anyway if the shop is closed, you still can go for a drink at the bar located just in front of the shop and who knows, if you are lucky enough she will open in the meantime…

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Marina Maas shop | Shopping | Art piece from € 15.00
Calle Jupi, 4 | El Barrio Gotico | +34933106803
No regular opening times schedule: best to call

I love the local market.

La Abaceria is situated on the busy Traveserra de Gràcia, just 200 meters from the Library, and very near John Lennon Square (see the Lennon square article).

You’ll find some of the very best veggies, fruit, fish, meat, cheeses and herbs here as well as a Japanese sushi and fresh noodle bar, a Lebanese grocer and a second-hand bookstall where all the books are just € 1.00.

The market has three bars, all of which sell food prepared with ingredients from the market, so, when you’re done shopping for veggies you can cool your heels and slake your thirst before buying your fish, meats and cheeses.

The city hall does a really inspiring job of promoting the city’s 43 markets – with healthy eating tours led by nutritionists – including tours for diabetics and weight watchers – and giving practical demonstrations on food preparation.

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Mercat de la Abaceria Central | Shopping
Travessera de Gràcia, 186 | Gracia | +34932136286
Mon – Thu 07:00 – 14:30 & 17:30 – 20:30, Fri – Sat 06:00- 15:00 & 17:00 – 20:00

When I was little, spinning the globe was one of my favorite games. You know, a little que será, será: Where am I going to live when I am all grown up? When the globe stopped, my finger would point at a magical place like Transylvania, Iceland or Zanzibar or whatever sounded like an exotic place to a seven-year-old.

Little has changed during the past twenty years and from time to time, a little spinning keeps the excitement of the possibilities one has in these very confusing times of international fun.

Also, you could say that this is the outcome of a generation growing up in a globalized world: disoriented, rootless grown-ups who ask themselves over and over again their inner seven year old’s unanswered questions.

If you’ve got the urge to try some good old globe spinning yourself, try Monimoon, a shop that hosts one of Europe’s most complete globe collections just off the Ramblas on Unió. At Monimoon you find a world of globes that come in all colors and sizes: very little, big, medium, blue, brown, made of wood, plastic, plastered with animals, with stars, new and antique.

Once you have your own flashy globe and you are about to start to whirl the world around, do not forget spinning’s first and last eternal rule: you can do it over and over again.

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Monimoon | Shopping | Smaller globes from € 15.00
Carrer de la Unió, 13 | El Raval | +34933022026
Mon – Fri 08:00 -13:30 & 15:30 – 19:00, Sat 08:00 – 13:30

Ras is probably one of the most interesting book shops in town owned by the Barcelona based Actar editorial.

Specialized in architecture, design and art, it offers a variety of books and magazines from international editorials.

Besides being a book store, Ras is also an exclusive gallery exhibiting contemporary art and design.

Check their website for exposition openings and get some chocolate, nuts and wine for free! But watch your alcohol consumption; you might end up buying some of the gorgeous accessories, displayed in the entrance area.

Ras is one of the gathering points of Barcelona’s urban scene, as it also offers many books on street art, and you might as well end up with a hot skater date!

Frequently check for sales, special offers and many books on discount!

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Ras bookshop | Art & culture, Shopping
Calle Doctor Dou 10 | El Raval | +34934127199
Tue – Fri 11:00 – 21:00

Finding a good vintage store in Barcelona is not easy- it seems that Spanish people are not really into the idea of wearing other people’s old clothes.

Luckily there is one street that saves the recalling of old spirits – Calle Riera Baixa.

Door on door, second hand stores offer everything a vintage lover’s heart desires: boots, sunglasses, 70s summer dresses, jeans, bikinis from the 40s…Here you’ll find the good old dress for good old fun!

The best shop to go to is definitely “Le Swing”, unfortunately also the most expensive one.

When tired from shopping, you can also find a beautiful old cafe in the same street: stylish in its old spirit- just like you.

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Rierra Baixa | Shopping
Calle Riera Baixa | El Raval
Mon – Sat 11:00 – 14:30 & 17:00 – 19:00

Sant Antoni is in one of Barcelona’s very Catalan (= very boring) neighborhoods. Nothing is happening over there, the streets are clean and the inhabitants are close to marriage – or pension.

But once a week, the neighborhood is waking up: Sant Antoni’s flea market calls people from all over town. All ages and nationalities come to have a look at a variety of books, DVDs, computer games, old magazines, posters…

Maybe you are collecting Claudia Schiffers first Vogue-covers, or you are just interested in how to construct of a WW 1 missile- this is your place.

Combine your snooping for old treasures with a visit of Barcelona’s goldies:

Els tres Tombs (Ronda San Antoni 11), a tapas bar located on one of Barcelona’s most noisy street corners, invites you for a drink and some delicious and typical Spanish snacks. Talking? impossible. This place is for watching and observing – one of the Barcelona’s best terraces to just shut up and gawk.

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Sant Antoni flea-market | Shopping
Ronda Sant Antoni | Eixample
Sun 10:00 – 13:00

Vinçon is a design store situated in what was once the painter Ramon Casas’s family house – just a few meters from Gaudí’s famous apartment building La Pedrera.

Casas, together with his collaborator Rusiñol, was a witty, clever arts activist who did a lot to prepare the way for the following generation of artists such as Picasso. In keeping with the building’s cultural history the store features a gallery at its heart – La Sala Vinçon – showing work by artists, photographers and product designers.

The current exhibition features well-known landmark Barcelona buildings made from recycled cardboard and plastic by artist Valentino Menghi with a little bit of help from passing members of the public.

During the Christmas period the gallery promotes a very succesful art supermarket where you can pick up an original print or painting for less than € 100. Even the carrier bags are artist designed – and have become collectors’ items.

I really enjoy visiting this shop – not to buy things, I could never afford to, but for two reasons: firstly to enjoy the arts and crafts decorative stone, tile and ironwork, and secondly to pick up ideas. Call in, have a wander around, check out the quirky toys and gadgets and the kitchen department, climb the stairs to the first floor and marvel at the huge fireplace.

Wander out onto the patio at the back, where you’ll see what was the family chapel, and the trees which grow from inside the shop. Turn around and look up at the back of La Pedrera.

If only Vinçon had a coffee shop and a place to sit and read a book. Like a Catalan Ikea for grown ups with platinum credit cards.

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Vinçon | Art & culture, Shopping
Passeig de Gràcia 96 | Eixample | +34932156050
Mon – Sat 10:00 – 20:00