6 Best Places to Shop in Moscow, Russia

A series of shops and boutiques inside a 19th-century arcade, this shopping emporium sits on Red Square, across from the Kremlin. GUM, which stands for Gosudarstvenny Universalny Magazin, or State Department Store, now stocks only a handful of Russian brands in the upper-level stores. On the first floor you will find an arcade of upscale boutiques, including MaxMara, Hugo Boss, Louis Vuitton, and La Perla. Also here is the elegant Bosco restaurant, which overlooks Red Square and has a summer terrace. Cheaper eats are available at fast-food outlets on the top floor. A "historic toilett," with pre-revolutionary interiors made of marble and Murano glass, is located at the first floor (Lane 1).

What was once a central market selling food and utilitarian household items is now an upscale mall, offering everything from furniture to fashion to imported gourmet delicacies. Upper floors house fashion collections from Vivienne Westwood, Helmut Lang, Elizabeth and James, and others; you may want to keep an eye out for offerings from such Russian designers as Alexander Terekhov, Alena Akhmadullina, and Andrei Artemov. The food market on the fifth floor is especially enticing, with organic vegetables sitting alongside such rarities as lavender chocolate from France and Japanese wasabi-flavored chewing gum.

One of the most popular shopping malls among Muscovites is in front of the Kursk station and is yet another symbol of modern Moscow. Everything is under one roof, including numerous mass-brand clothing stores (H&M, Camper, UNIQLO, Zara, Karen Millen), a perfume "supermarket," a huge grocery store, and the Formula Kino movie theater. You can also find a trendy Italian café and a sushi bar here.

This underground shopping mall offers standards like Aldo, Benetton, Tommy Hilfiger, BeeFree, Motivi, and MEXX. Set under the main square adjacent to the Kremlin, the mall attracts crowds of Russian out-of-towners, who stroll, photograph the intricate cupola that extends aboveground, and window-shop.

MaxMara, Nina Ricci, Givenchy, Kenzo, and Bally boutiques and an antiques store are in this chic, glass-roofed space, a top contender for the most luxurious shopping passazh (arcade) in town.

TsUM (Central Department Store), a historical rival of GUM, has upgraded itself to an expensive emporium with collections of nearly all the top European designers. Although TsUM is nowhere near as stunning as GUM architecturally, it usually has the larger choice.