Lillehammer Shopping

A bit of an upmarket sports wear store, mostly for men. You will find hunting , fishing and hiking wear, and also some sports goods. They do have some very good selections of outerwear and shirts etc.

What to buy: A good place to get gifts for a wilderness man, or the odd souvenir gadget for fishing, hunting etc.
They are specializing in fly fishing.

What to pay: Quite pricey, depends on brands and quality. The hiking boots and some sales items are probably competitive in a continental European sense.

Lillehammer has probably the largest concentration of sports goods cum outdoor gear shops in Norway. Oslo will have more, but very spread out.
Fjallraven, the Swedish outdoor clothing store has their Norway office and outlet in Storgaten (north).
Rustadstuden is on the other side of the street, a bit further north, with frequent sales and good service. Specialists on ice fishing and fly fishing. Buy fishing licences here.
Brusveen, in the opposite end of tStorgaten specialize in xc skiing.
Mesna Sport near the Mesna Bridge is big on ice skating, hockey, alpine skiing.
Sport og Fritid on Kirkegaten toward the railway station is big and has a good selection of camping gear, hiking gear, sleeping bags etc. They also have brand departments for Norrona, Bergans and Lowe.

What to buy: Stock up on good quality outdoor gear.
You really need a souvenir from Lillehammer? Buy Swix ski wax, it's even produced in town! If you live in Tunis, it will last you forever.
The various stores in town sometimes have good buys on sleeping bags (Ajungilak, a Norwegian make), skis and bikes at the beginning and tail end of the repective seasons, fishing gear at the end of the season.

What to pay: Naaaa, not that question again?
A painful one, here.

Lillehammer's commercial areas, at least those interesting for visitors (I am expecting tourists not to be interested in bulk fertilizer, 2nd hand tractors, car dealers etc.) are centered on two areas:
The main area, well-known because of the Lillehammer Olympic, is the centre of Lillehammer itself, with the pedestrian areas and adjacent side roads, back yards, parallel roads etc. The Storgata pedestrian street is the focal place.

The other site is Strandtorget shopping plaza down by the river, benefitting from an old paper factory site for development sprawl, and the adjacent E6 highway and proximity to Lillehammer as high turn-over customer base.

There is a development debate over whether to limit Strandtorget's activities in order not to depopulate the town centre. Interestingly, the Storgata shops tend to start affilate shops and outlets at Strandtorget. Given the seasonally adverse weather, a large indoor-shopping mall has proven successful. But unique and beautiful and very entertaining it ain't...

What to buy: For a survey of access, activities and individual shops check the following web addresses:
www.lillehammersentrum.no
and
www.strandtorget.no

Husfliden is a real arts and crafts store with real home made stuff. Some of the things may be outright useless, but they are made by local individuals and sold through this sort of cooperative store.
You can get a whole range of things here, but for visitors the most apparent draw appears to be knitted woolens, sweaters, cardigans etc. But also shawls, traditional jewelry and slippers and wooden kitchen implements seem to find a ready market. Yes, locals go here to buy genuine gifts or things for themselves. No nonsense.

What to pay: Variable prices, many things, but generally good value - there are no middle men to take a cut, and the money goes back to the producer. That means.... not cheap...

Just by the reception at Maihaugen Museum (see separate tip) - you do not need to pay entry fee - is the Museum shop.

What to buy: Norwegian silver, pewter and other metal jewlery.
Books on artisanry, craft making etc.
Old style childrens' toys.
Musuem copies of various items.
Knitwear and other texitles.
Ceramics, glass, wood craft and linnet table cloths etc.
Open during regular museum hours.

What to pay: 10% off for "Friends of Maihaugen" members.

Glass isn't the easiest thing to carry home, but check out Lillehammer Kunstglass, anyway.
They blow glass as you watch, so it's a bit of a show here, too, and you shouldn't feel pressured to buy anything - it's their workshop.
It's glass art, really, but some nice, down-to-eart useful pieces as well.

What to pay: Varies a lot with the artistry and work put into the exact piece.