Oslo Shopping

The touristy thing to buy in Norway has to be a minature troll. Carefully avoiding any reference to what member of the family they might resemble they range from cheap nik-naks to incrediably detailed pieces.

We found that the best prices could be found by going to normal toyshops rather than looking in souvenier shops.

What to buy: In Standard Festmagasinet, a toy shop, the shop assistant (who spoke absolutely no english - what a refreshing change) kept her collection of trolls in a drawer. It would have been even better if she kept them under a small bridge - but you can't have everything.

What to pay: Good examples can be found for around 300 kr

IKEA's are the same the world over. The same flat-packed 'Billy' bookcases hold up millions of books all over the world, and scatter milllions of books when they collapse precisely one month after the guarantee runs out.

On a lighter note, did you know that it is estimated that 10% of all Europeans are conceived in an IKEA bed ?

Oslo has two of these furniture / furnishings behemoths on opposite sides of the city.

Usefully they operate free buses (with plenty of storage room if you choose to buy half-a-dozen Billy's in one go) from the centre of town.

They leave every half-hour to one store or the other (as if it made a difference) from a stop just along from the central rail station (the last one facing the Hotel Opera)

What to buy: Give Billy a home

What to pay: Cheap as chips

Kind of a Scandinavian "Bed Bath & Beyond." Good quality linens, draperies, sheets, etc. Pretty good prices, too, when I compared the merchandise here to similar items in my home town. In fact, I purchased somewhat elegant curtains for my dining room here.

Have not been to much in the sentrum, but I have been in Oslo City, Youngstorget and Grönland.

Grönland : I did shop for textiles, not expencive at all.. well it's asian. Did get me 5 kilo og basmati rice.. just for the bag.. hehe.

Oslo City, well it's ok, but not a must... did find me some DVD.. Kingdom 1 and 2. But not much more.

Youngstorget to Oslo City: many shops, did take a trip in Älands, they had 70% off on christmas thing and other thing..
In a shoppinseter i did find some stationery and we did also take a round on some H&M for Snoopin thing.. yes.. did find some :)

Shangri La, close to Oslo S; it's a shop with all I can dream of, I love natives thing, from all of the world it's a bit like isis, if you know what I mean..

What to pay: We did go from sale to sale.. but full price is whooosjh up there... : /

Tanum's bookshop at Karl Johan's street doesn't look like it, but it is one of the world's largest English language bookstores. Well, this is a bit fictive, as they supply English books to many educational institutions, the public sector and companies.

What to buy: You will certainly find a fairly large section on relevant travel literature here in English. They also have most maps of Norway/Sweden/ Denmark and many others, too.
Good selection of literature and coffee table books on Norway, and Norwegian classics in translation.

This is my ideal of interior style. I got lot of ideas from this store. The only thing i bought was a magazine - but maybe if the exchange rate is better on my next trip, I might purchase something - perhaps candlesticks, or a throw rug.

I'm an enormous fan of the rustic style of Scandinavian interior design. This isn't the sleek, cool, spotless, and ultra-modern style which is so often copied outside Scandinavia. I mean the farmhouse or cabin or traditional look, where hand-me-downs and "home-mades" are seamlessly matched with more recent acquistions. The West End of Oslo has many shops and boutiques where you can sample this look; "Shabby Chic" - just off Bogstadveien - is an excellent place to start looking.

Juhls is the shop of the Saami silversmith family Juhl based in Kautokeino, Finnmark.
They produce and sell exquisite pieces of art and artefacts from the Saami tradition and cultural fusion as well. They are best known for their silver jewelry.
Their main shop and workshops are in Kautokeino.

What to buy: Little birch bark boxes, leather goods, knives and silver jewelry.

What to pay: This is right-out expensive, but guaranteed authentic handicrafts and quality. No nonsense.