Much of Porto's commercial space consists of shops that appeal mainly to residents, and, except for their curiosity value, only rarely to international visitors. In recent years, many of these have clustered in shopping malls. The newest and most elegant are the Centro Comercial Peninsular, Praça do Bom Sucesso, and the particularly charming Centro Comercial Via Caterina. It's in the pedestrian zone of the city's most vital shopping street, rua de Santa Catarina, at the corner of rua Fernandes Tomar. The storefronts inside duplicate the facades you'd probably see in a folkloric village of northern Portugal.
If you're looking for the designer wares of noteworthy clothiers from France, Italy, and Spain, these malls will have them. Other shopping malls have a sometimes-uneven distribution of upscale and workaday shops. They include the Centro Comercial de Foz, rua Eugênio de Castro, which is adjacent to the sea and especially pleasant in midsummer, and the Centro Comercial Aviz, avenida de Boavista, rather inconveniently located in the middle of the city's largest concentration of automobile dealerships. The big, centrally located Centro Comercial Brasilia is on Praça Mouzinho de Albuquerque; and the particularly large Centro Comercial Cidade do Porto, rua do Bom Sucesso, contains shops interspersed with restaurants, bars, movie theaters, and cafes.
Open-air markets supplement the malls. You can buy caged birds at the Mercado dos Passaros, rua de Madeira, Sunday from 7:30am to 1pm; potted plants at Mercado das Flores, Praça de Liberdade, April to October, Sunday from 8am to 5pm; and coins and medallions at the Numismatics Fair, Praça Dom João I, Sunday from 7:30am to 1pm. If flea markets appeal to you, head for Praça de Batalha every day from 9am to 5:30pm.
For a glimpse of local fruits, vegetables, and meats, head for the Mercado de Bolão, where hundreds of merchants sell food, flowers, spices, and kitchen equipment from the city's most famous open-air market. It sprawls for several blocks beside rua de Santa Catarina.
Porto boasts some of the finest gold- and silversmiths in Portugal. You'll find dozens of shops, especially along rua das Flores.
Pedro A. Baptista, rua das Flores 235 (tel. 22/200-51-42), is an outstanding shop. It offers an unusual collection of antique and new jewelry (often based on traditional designs), plus several upper floors of decorator items. The owner buys rare and beautiful antique jewelry that he "offers first to his wife." In the ground-floor jewelry section, you'll find intricate, delicate filigree pins, brooches, pillboxes, and bracelets, in both solid gold (19.2 karats) and gold-plated silver. There's also an exquisite silver collection, including elaborately decorated tea services.
Other leading jewelers are David Rosas, Lda., av. de Boavista 1471 (tel. 22/606-84-64), and Elysee Joias, Praca Mouzinho de Albuquerque 113 (tel. 22/600-06-63). Branches of the well-recommended chain outfit Rosior Manuel Rosas, Lda., are in the Centro Comercial de Foz (tel. 22/550-15-19). The company maintains a second branch at rua Eugênio de Castro 263 (tel. 22/606-81-34).
The local showcase for the fabled Arraiolos carpets is Casa dos Tapetes de Arraiolos, rua Santa Catarina 570 (tel. 22/205-48-16). The nubby, pure wool carpets of Portugal that teams of women spend hours crafting are sold here in all their glory. Look for symmetrical patterns that make full use of the subtle palettes of grays, blues, greens, and soft reds that have attracted non-Portuguese homeowners to these carpets for many generations.
Cutting-edge home furnishings are sold at the branches of Móvel 4--rua de Camões 19 (tel. 22/208-48-84), rua de Santa Catarina 1002 (tel. 22/202-63-40), and rua Dom Manuel II 196 (tel. 22/609-88-89), the largest.
For leather, go to Haity, rua de Santa Catarina 247 (tel. 22/205-96-30). At Casa dos Linhos, rua de Fernandes Tomas 660 (tel. 22/200-00-44), you'll find linen and embroideries. A particularly beautiful bookstore that stocks some titles in English is the Livraria Lello, rua das Carmelitas 144 (tel. 22/200-20-37). Partly because of its inventories, but especially because of its lavish Art Nouveau design, this is the best-known and most prestigious bookstore in Porto. A fixture among readers in northern Portugal since around 1900, it has two floors of lavishly ornate iron and plasterwork, a small café on the second floor, and a staff that's congenial but impossibly slow. And if you're looking for any of the standard international perfumes, as well as more esoteric brands available for the most part only in Iberia, head for Perfumaria Castilho, rua de Sá de Bandeira 80 (tel. 22/208-56-58).
Among voguish women's fashion designers, Ana Salazar, rua Nova de Alfopndega 65 (tel. 22/203-97-01), is the market leader. In Porto, she maintains a high-tech showroom with a minimum of architectural distractions. Here, you'll find women's clothing that's sexy, clingy, and chic, at prices that are expensive compared to most other clothing outlets in Portugal, but relatively reasonable when compared to the clothing of other designers in, let's say, Paris. In addition to office, evening, and sportswear, you'll find bags, shoes, and other accessories.
To stock up on traditional Portuguese handcrafts, begin at the Regional Center of Traditional Arts (CRAT), rua de Reboleira 33-37 (tel. 22/332-02-01). In an aristocratic 18th-century town house, it sells the best handcrafts from artisans throughout the country's northern tier. Lively competitors in the handcrafts trade include the following: Casa do Coracão de Jesus, rua Mouzinho de Silveira 302 (tel. 22/200-32-17); Casa Lima, rua de Sa de Bandeira 83 (tel. 22/200-52-32); and Casa Margaridense, travessa de Cedofeita 20A (tel. 22/200-11-78).
One of the finest names in Portuguese porcelain is Vista Alegre, rua Cândido dos Reis 18 (tel. 22/200-45-54). It carries a variety of items and can arrange shipping. Prices vary greatly, depending on the handwork involved, how many colors are used, and whether a piece is decorated in gold.
