20 Best Shopping in Prague, Czech Republic

A quintessentially Czech shop right in the center: you've got to love it. How many other capital cities in the world would have a store dedicated to all things mushroom and mushroom-picking (a slightly risky national pastime---don't do it yourself without an expert present), a street or two away from the retail prime time? Les Houbeles sells mushroom-growing supplies, kitschy clothes, and, of course, the fungi themselves. 

Every Saturday (in the warmer months) sees the hipster riverside hangout of Náplavka transformed into a farmers' market selling staples like potatoes and apples as well as more artisanal products like traditional Czech dumplings and honey wine, smoked meats, and tortellini.

Despite the extensive collection of antique maps, prints, and engravings dating from the 16th century, this shop is refreshingly bright. Among the shop's treasures: beautiful Japanese woodblocks and a well-known map depicting Asia as the winged horse Pegasus. The shop also mounts and frames works on request.

Shoes, glorious shoes! Five floors of them, to be exact, are housed in this shoe giant that has locations around the world but got its start right here in the Czech Republic.

There's a clearance section on the top floor for bargain hunters.

This jewelry shop feels more like a gallery than a shop, with its statement pieces gleaming in the light. But don't be put off; it's a family-run business and the staff are friendly. The carefully curated sculptures and accessories are typified by an amazing use of metal and precious stone.

This behemoth of a music store is situated underground, somewhere between the Metro station and the street, giving it an intriguing cavelike atmosphere. This is the best place to purchase Czech music and films, and there is a limited supply of English-language media, too.

Try out acclaimed Moravian wines, or pick up a select imported bottle at the lovely, historic Lucerna passage store and bar, which also offers tastings.

A fine place to peruse the shelves of English-language titles, this friendly store leads to a café and bar down the hall, where lattes, laptops, and expats are de rigueur. If you're hoping to attend English-language literary, film, or arts events while in Prague, check out the wall of flyers near the front desk.

Ivana Follová's little boutique and atelier at the top of Wenceslas Square showcases her wares in a chic, green space in central Prague. The designer specializes in silk, which she dyes in bold colors, patterns, and shapes into gauzy garments, from wedding dresses to coats. She also stocks distinctive accessories like chunky costume jewelry by other Czech designers.

This attractive shop's specialty is timepieces of all kinds, from a wide array of luxury wristwatches to clocks from the 18th and 19th centuries hailing from Austria, the Czech Republic, France, and Germany. Antique pocket watches featured in the window displays also draw longing stares from knowing collectors and passing tourists alike.

This shop has beautiful art deco and art nouveau diamond rings, porcelain and brass decorative objects, and furniture. But the company's specialty is clocks from the 18th- and 19th centuries hailing from Austria, the Czech Republic, France, and Germany. Antique pocket watches featured in the window displays also draw longing stares from knowing collectors and passing tourists alike.

With more than 10,000 items in stock (including those featured on the online store), you'll find English-language travel guides, useful local maps, books about travel, and even a few globes scattered around the premises, now in the Traveler's Club restaurant—but in keeping with the adventurous spirit, you might need to hunt them down a bit (the name means "books on the mountains"). 

With its four floors, music section, and coffee shop, this bookstore is the biggest in the Czech Republic, reminiscent of major American chains and known as "the palace." Only a small area in the basement is set aside for English-language books, but the store is an excellent source for maps of the Czech Republic and other European cities and countries and has some travel guidebooks in English. It also hosts various literary events.

Elegant glass stemware and decorative bowls and candlesticks are hand-blown or -cut and gorgeous enough to outfit the dining tables of Europe's aristocratic elite. This historic Czech company, established in Karlovy Vary in 1857, maintains two Prague locations—here and on Old Town Square. Both stores are breathtaking (although this location is a bit less hectic), boasting chandeliers, tea sets, and porcelain figurines on multiple floors, in addition to all that graceful glass.

The perfect place for your art nouveau or Alfons Mucha fix (the world-famous Czech artist who made his name painting Sarah Bernhardt in fin de siècle Paris), this charming shop is located in a museum dedicated to the artist. You'll find posters, postcards, calendars, glass, jewelry, scarves, books, lamps, and more, all with the signature Mucha motifs.

Global brands here are paired with Czech-designed accessories at this flagship store for one of the country's largest sneaker and streetwear shops. Just off Wenceslas Square, the bright, light space is a trendy place to pick up a new pair of sneakers or an own-brand sweater. 

A bit classier than the average mall, this collection of shops is flanked by a shady courtyard and features a few decent restaurants. Stores include big names like Calvin Klein, but it's the chic little boutiques, like Italian shoe retailer Baldinini, and the more interesting stores, like the wine shop Advivum, which does regular tastings in the garden, that set this mall apart. There's also a movie theater showing new releases, sometimes in English.

This is Prague's preeminent toy store chain, with goodies for babies, toddlers, and older children. Let the little ones run wild among the Legos, puzzles, and games. Sparkys also stocks an adorable array of stuffed animals, including Krtek, the cute Czech cartoon character whose popularity spread across the communist world in the second half of the 20th century.

A must-see for movie buffs, this cool little shop has everything from the films themselves on DVD, to clothes, to a carefully curated section of vintage Czechoslovak movie posters. The cinema housing the shop has a rotating exhibition of some of its best stock. 

The Room stocks creative European brands for fashion-conscious men, from cool Chinese-French Three Animals to Alex Monhart's swanky Czech-made black backpacks.