Shopping - St Petersburg - page 71

Most people these days shop in large, Western-style supermarkets. Unfortunately, it
really pays to shop in one of the big ones in St Petersburg, as small and even medium-
sized supermarkets are frustratingly understocked and lack the most basic of fresh
products. The very best supermarkets in the city are expensive but worth the extra ef-
fort and expense - there's sumptuous Stockmann ( CLICK HERE ), elite favourite
Lend ( CLICK HERE ), Galeria's enormous Okey ( CLICK HERE ) and the rather out-
of-the-way, but fantastically stocked French hypermarket Auchan ( CLICK HERE ).
Passable local supermarket chains you'll find all over the city include Lenta (Лента),
Dixy (Дикси) and Nakhodka (Находка).
NEED TO KNOW
Opening Hours
Most shops are open seven days a week, typically from 10am to 6pm Monday
to Friday, and from 10am to 7pm at the weekends. These times vary of course,
with many places opening earlier and closing later. In this guide we note the
opening hours of shops only when they vary from these standard times.
Credit Cards
You can usually guess which shops take plastic and which don't, though it's al-
ways worth asking. In general, smarter, larger shops will nearly always take
major credit cards, though an increasing number of smaller places and super-
markets now do too. If you plan to use your credit card, bring a passport or
driving licence; otherwise many stores won't allow you to use it.
Caviar
It might be the glamorous face of Russian shopping, but the environmentally
conscious will stay well clear of black caviar, which is widely available in food
shops across the city. Sturgeon overfishing in the Caspian Sea has reached