6 Best Shopping in Arbat, Moscow

Specializing in traditional Russian linen, this old store stocks beautiful embroidered christening gowns as well as table linens, rag rugs, and fine cotton lace collars and cuffs from different parts of the country.

In this large, old-fashioned store you can find Gzhel china, linen tablecloths, nesting dolls, ivory work, wooden toys, and national Russian costumes at reasonable prices and without the hard sell.

Artemiy Lebedev is probably the most successful graphic designer, style guru, and blogger in Russia. At this outlet you can find wittily designed apparel, accessories, and office supplies that make great gifts. They're also a revealing look into the concerns and obsessions of Russian intellectuals. Enter the coffee shop and go down the spiral stairs.

Chasy is "watch" in Russian and this small shop offers a wide choice of Russian men's brands, such as Raketa, Komadirskie, and Sturmanskie—Yuri Gagarin was wearing this last one when he became the first person to venture into outer space in April 1961.

Russian-made chocolates make a great, unexpected souvenir from Russia, and those from Moscow's Krasny Oktyabr (Red October) factory are the best. You can buy various kinds of individually wrapped candies—Krasnaya Shapochka (Little Red Riding Hood), Mishka Kosolapy (Little Clumsy Bear), Alyonka (whose wrapper features a girl wearing a scarf), and Yuzhnaya Noch (Southern Night). Most of them retain Soviet-style wrappers. The chocolates are widely available in supermarkets and kiosks, but the best assortment, including gift boxes and chocolate animal figures, is at the main store, just north of the Arbat district.

This pleasant souvenir shop sells the best of locally produced folk art, including palekh (colorful, lacquered wood with folklore designs), chess sets, cocktail glasses, coffee sets made of amber, and copies of Faberge eggs (including earings and pendants).