Rio de Janeiro Shopping

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What to buy: Said to be the largest shopping mall in the whole of South America, Barra Shopping is located in what is called Midtown Barra Da Tijuca. Opened in 1981, the mall covers an area of 165,372 square meters and features nearly 600 shops. Shops include C&A, Renner, Fnac, Zara, Americanas, Timberland, Levi's, Dockers, Tomy Hilfiger and Victor Hugo. There's also a 20 lane bowling lane and the New York City Centre complex which features 18 multiplex cinema's.

Open: Mon-Sat 10am-10pm, Sun 3-9pm.

What to buy: OK most of us like Caipirinha :)
Anyone that enjoys sipping aged rum , whisky, should try Cachaça.

Cachaça, comes in brown and white , is the sugar cane alchohol that is used in the Caipirinha cocktail. For sipping, is the brown type.

I bought a bottle of 12 years (aged ) Cachaça at the duty free for 58 USD ( most items inside the gate at the airports are priced in USD )

The taste is way smoother than some 18 year Rum I have at home. It's not exactly cheap but then we don't have this exact type in Canada, and IMO it is very well worth the price.
The bottle looks good as well. If you can find it locally in Rio, it should be cheaper. Ask for an aged Cachaça at the local bistro and enjoy.

Saúde !

What to pay: 58 USD

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Hippie Fair opens every Sunday , begins at about 10PM, located at General Osorio Square, on Rua Visconde de Pirajá at the northern end of Ipanema, right below Arpoador. Just 2 small blocks away from the beach.

It's a good place to shop for sounvenirs in Ipanema. The square is not very big but you could easily spend 2 , 3 hours there looking for interesting items.
There are also vendors selling drinks, juices, and food. The bald soccer guy would be standing at one corner as well showcasing his control skills. I suspect he's the same guy who appeared on Amazing Race a while back.

Things you can find there: bracelets, necklaces, various unset semi precious gem stones, gold/silver/metal jeweleries, soccer team T shirts, leather goods, leather furnitures, purses and handbags of various material,
paintings, wood crafted floor/table/wall art piece. If you are planning to get a mini statue of Christ The Redeemer, you shall find loads of them there. Try to get there early, it got crowded fairly quickly the day we visited.

Interesting items that I saw : paper made miniature themed rooms, such as computer rooms, DJ booth, Kitchen, office...etc. Very detailed. And jacket/vests made from recycled fabric, I'm not kidding. I wanted to get one but wife veetoed that.... ah, next time :D

Don't forget to bargain. Some smaller items were price listed, as for bigger ones , you may get more than 50% off if you try talking it down.
I was looking at a brass wall piece with no price stickered. I asked the price just out of curiosity and got 100R, but the vendor said she would give it for 90R.
So I said thanks and walked away. While I continued doing rounds at the fair, the vendor approached me no less than 3 more times and the final price was 30R.

What to buy: various souvenirs, small to large furniture size.

What to pay: from 2R and up

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What to buy: Funk CD

Some may say it's a local underground genre of music, I found Funk to be less harsh than most Reggaeton I heard in Panama. Some of the tunes are quite melodic as well, but all with a groove that so many love.

You can find Funk compilation CD's at most local music stores and drug store such as Lojas Americanas. I picked up 2 compilation Cd by DJ Marlboro. Each CD is a double CD set, about 15R . Not a bad price.

For a sample of Funk, go to this website by SKOL. They stream some local Funk ,free.

http://www.skol.com.br/janela.asp?tipo_url=skolfunk

If you have time, also check out their on sale CD rack, you may find some that's worth picking up. I saw a few titles by Queen, Brazil editions, at about 8R each. Sadly I didn't have a chance to buy them before leaving.

What to pay: average 12R and up

Please note that most street retail stores. except eateries and some, close quite early compared to other big cities. And once the stores close, the streets can be very deserted. And city streets in general are not well lit, even in Leblon.

So for safety, try to get your street shoppings done before 5 PM before the streets empty out.
We were in Ipanema 2 nights walking and shopping way past the closing hour, once the shops closed, there were beggers in groups hanging out almost asap in front of Forum Mall, the upsacle one in Ipanema, so you can imagine. Street vendors hawked their goods during those time as well.

Better to hit malls like Rio Sul, if you plan to shop till the last minute, and get a yellow taxi back to the hotel/apartment.

Other than sneakers from sporting goods shops, Mr. Cat , and, Paqueta are two chain stores where you can find stylish, casual shoes, as well as sneakers for men.

They can be found along the main streets in Ipanema, and in various malls.

What to buy: casual/leather shoes

What to pay: about 140R for a apir trendy leather sneaker style shoes.

Rio's a great place for shopping, but their use of the term ' Mall" can be quite vague.

Other than the super malls in Barra, Rio Sul, and a couple others, the malls you'l find along the main commercial streets in Ipanema, Leblon etc are 2 to 4 storied petite galleria.
As mentioned by other members, you really have to look up above the street level when trying to locate those malls. As the average commercial buildings are quite narrow, a lot of those malls don't occupy much of a building block for each level, and usually their entrances are only lines with a few shops.

Most importantly, don't be put off by the petite size of those galleria mall, some of the most interesting stores I have come across are located in those settings.

What to buy: Flip flips from Havaianas makes great sounvenirs and gifts; light, about 12 to 14R on average, you won't miss them when you go shopping there.

For greater selection on sizes, go to one of their drugstores such as Lojas Americanas.

Super model Giselle Bundchen, from Brazil, also has her own line of flip flops and sandles, cost a bit more but worth considering as well.

If special editions sneakers are you thing, Rio won't let you down, as sports activities are a big part of local life. They have so many other styles and editions from Nike/Addidas/Puma/Reebok that you rarely see in North America . The ones I saw seemed to be cheaper than in North America as well. And of course, there are also the usual yellow and green Brazil editions from various makes.

Other than the usual sportwear chain stores, regular shoe stores may also carry brand name sneakers, where you may bargain the price down a bit more than those chain stores. I have seen a few in Leblon selling the same pair 10R cheaper than the chian stores.

Nike also have their made in Brazil lines, and I saw some on sale at Rio Sul mall for 90R a pair.

If you insist on Brazil labels, 'Olympikus' makes some cool sneakers. I bought a pair in Ipanema to use during the trip, costed me 160R, sales man also threw in a pair of free socks.

What to pay: brand name flip flips: 12R and up;
sneakers: 90R and up;
brand name sneakers: 180R and up.