In my blog post about the most original souvenirs and gifts from Saint Petersburg I discussed many cool local things you can buy in Saint Petersburg. So definitely check that out, if you find that interesting. In this blog post I will discuss the more mainstream shopping venues in Saint Petersburg.
So what is the best place for shopping in Saint Petersburg? There are large shopping malls all over the city, but most of them are located outside of the centre. Because it’s inconvenient to travel to the other side of the city for a bit of shopping, which is the best mall for you depends on your location
Of course, if you want to visit a particular store, like Ikea, you have to travel to get there. Although many of the big malls may seem far away there may be convenient transport from your location. Moreover, many malls offer free transport from several locations in the city.
On This Page
- The Largest Shopping Malls In Saint Petersburg
- Luxurious Shopping On Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street
- Gostiny Dvor
- Au Pont Rouge
The biggest mall in the city is , however, located in the very centre and it is called Galeria. Galeria is located next to the city’s Moscow Railway Station. On the other side of Nevsky Prospekt, you’ll find the “Nevsky Center” mall, to most people simply known as “Stockmann.”
On Sennaya Square there are also a two quite big shopping malls, which used to be hot ten years ago, but are not so any longer. The same goes for the small but luxurious mall next to Dostoyevskaya metro station.
Outside of the center there was understandably more space for big shopping malls and also the ground is cheaper outside of the center, that’s why the biggest shopping malls in Saint Petersburg are located outside of the center.
Largest Shopping Malls in Saint Petersburg
| Number in rank | Name Of Shopping Mall | Address Shopping mall | Amount of Square meters | Amount of Retail Space (square meters) | Number of Shops |
| 1 | Galeria (Галерея) | Ligovsky prospekt 30 A | 192 000 | 96 400 | 270 |
| 2 | Mega Dybenko (Мега Дыбенко) | Murmanskoye Shosse 12th Kilometer | 181 930 | 141 430 | 180 |
| 3 | Piterland (Питерлэнд) | Primorsky Prospekt 72 | 180 000 | unknown | 130 |
| 4 | Okhta Mall (Охта Молл) | Brantovskaya Doroga 3 | 148 000 | 78 000 | 145 |
| 5 | Europolis (Европолис) | Polyustrovskiy Prospekt, 84А | 141 700 | 60 000 | 160 |
| 6 | Mega Parnas (Мега Парнас) | Kad (117 Kilometr Vneshn) | 127 149 | 102 195 | 152 |
| 7 | Leto (Лето) | Pulkovskoye Shosse 25, building 1 | 116 000 | 76 000 | 181 |
| 8 | City Mall (Сити Молл) | Kolomyazhskiy Prospekt, 17, к.2, | 110 500 | 66 262 | 131 |
| 9 | Continent at Zvozdnaya (Континент на Звездной) | Zvozdnaya Ulitsa, 1, | 100 000 | unknown | 116 |
| 10 | Nevsky Center (Невский центр) | Nevsky Prospekt 114-116 | 97 000 | 44 700 | 102 |
Galeria
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Opening Times:
Shops: Daily from 10 AM – 11 PM
Cinema: Daily from 10 AM – 3:30 PM
Bowling: Daily from 10 AM – 6 AM
Wardrobe: Daily from 10 AM – 10:45 PM
Restaurants: have their own opening times
How to get there: Galeria is close to the underground stations Ploschad Vosstania, Mayakovskaya and Ligovsky Prospekt. (read my blog post about how to use the metro in Saint Petersburg)
An up-to-date list of shops in Galeria mall, you can find on the mall’s English language website
Galeria is the largest shopping mall in the city. And with a cinema, a bowling alley, a big supermarket, a food court, many restaurants, a tropical butterfly park (for little kids) and much more it has everything to offer that you may expect from the largest shopping mall in the city center of a metropolis.
Galeria’s popularity is in my opinion also its main downside; during the weekend it gets terribly busy and I usually try to avoid the place during weekend.
Like in many Russian establishments they heat the place too much during winter. When you enter the mall in your warm winter coat, you’ll be uncomfortably warm in no time. It’s worthwhile to hand in your coat at the wardrobe in the basement if you’re planning to stay in the mall for any amount of time. But not if you’re planning to stay in the mall to watch a movie or something, the wardrobe closes at 10:45 PM.
Mega Dybenko
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Opening Times:
Shops: Mon- Thu 10 AM- 10 PM, Fri-Sat -10 AM-11PM, Su 10 AM-10PM
Ikea: Daily from 10 AM – 11 PM
Ashan Hypermarket: Mon-Thu, Sun 08.30 AM – 10.00 PM, Fri – Sat: 08.30 AM– 11.00 PM
Cinema: Daily from 10 AM – 1 PM
Skating rink: 10 AM- 10 PM
How to get there: Ulitsa Dybenko
| From | How to get to Mega Dybenko |
| Metro station Ulitsa Dybenko | Minibus 491 leaves between 06:00-23:00 every 15 min(30 rubles for a ticket, 18 min to the mall) Minibus K3-Mega leaves between 07:00 – 22:00 every 10 min (a ticket costs 34 rubles, half an hour to the mall) |
| The Finland railway Station | Minibus K-254 leaves daily between 06:30-23:30 every 15 min. A ticket costs 40 rubles, 76 minutes drive to the mall. |
| Lomonosovskaya metro station | Minibus K-4 Mega, leaves daily between 07:00 – 22:00, every 10 minutes. A ticket costs 34 rubles and you’re 30 minutes on the road. |
| Chernyshevskaya metro station | Minibus K-269, leaves daily between 06:40-22:40 , every 15 minutes. It’s a 68 minute drive to Mega Dybenko and a ticket costs 40 rubles. |
All the Mega Shopping malls in Russia were set up by Ikea. Logically they all have a big Ikea store as well.
If you want to combine your shopping with a visit to Ikea, Mega is the place to go. In Saint Petersburg there are two Mega Malls. This one at Ulitsa Dybenko, in the South and the one at Parnas in the North.
Although it’s a bit of a hassle to get there, the chance of encountering good prices is a bit higher at Mega I think. The rent at Galeria is just very high, so shop owners don’t have a lot of margin to give you a good price there. Since Mega Dybenko is officially located outside of the city, rent is significantly cheaper there.
Piterland
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Opening Times:
Shops: Daily from 10 AM – 10 PM
Cinema: Daily from 10 AM – 2 AM
Trampoline park: Mon-Fri from 12 AM – 10 PM, Sa – Su, from 10 AM – 10 PM
Vertical wind tunnel: We – Su from 10 AM – 10 PM
Interactice Spacepark “Kosmoport”: Tue – Fri from 12 AM – 8 PM
How to get there: The most nearby metro to Piterland is Begovaya. It’s still a 1,5 kilometer walk from the metro to the mall however. So you might as well take transport from other take a minibus from another station. These are the possibilities to get to Piterland by transport:
| Where from | What transport |
| Komendanstsky prospekt metro (6,2 km from the mall) | Coach numbers 134b, 170 Minibus 94, 308 |
| Chornaya Rechka metro (6,2 km from the mall) | Coach number 32 Minibuses 90, 132, 206, 405 |
| Staraya Derevnya metro (4,4 kilometers from the mall) | Minibus 232 |
| From Begovaya (1,5 kilometers from the mall) | No transport, you’ll have to walk. |
At Piterland there are a lot of things you can do besides shopping, but with 130 stores, the shopaholic should also be able to satisfy his needs. Shopping malls outside of the center are usually a bit more focussed on clients with kids.
Okhta Mall
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Opening times:
Stores: Daily from 10 AM – 10 PM
Lenta Hypermarket: Daily around-the-clock
Cinema: Daily from 10 AM – 1 AM
How to get there: the closest metro station is Novocherkasskaya. But it’s not so close to the metro, 1,4 kilometer by foot to be exact. That’s why the mall organises free transport from this metro station. From 11:00 AM these free buses run every 7 minutes.
Besides the free buses can take bus numbers 5, 22, 132, 174, 181 , trolley coach 18, tram 10 or 23 or one of the many minibuses from the metro to the mall if you don’t want to walk.
You can also get to Okhta mall by minibus from other stations than Novocherkasskaya:
| From where | Means of Transport |
| Ladozhsky railway station (2,3 kilometers from the mall) | Minibus K-5 |
| Chernyshevskaya metro (4,1 kilometers from the mall) | Minibuses K-167, 51 |
| Ploschad Vosstania metro | Minibus 28 |
Shops: Have a look at the mall’s website to see if you like the shops at Okhta mall (external link, in Russian only, but you will recognise some brands). А 145 stores, some big and some a lot smaller. You should be able to find something to your liking.
Many people don’t like the neighborhood in which Okhta mall is located. I personally have a neutral opinion of this neighborhood, but if you don’t happen to live or for some other reason be in this area of the city, you probably don’t have much reason to visit Okhta mall. It is good, but what you can find here, you’ll also be able to find elsewhere.
Europolis
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Opening times:
Stores: Daily from 10 AM – 10 PM
Hypermarket “Prisma”: Daily from 09.00 – 23.00
Cinema: Daily from 10.00 – 03.00
Nearby metro: The metro station closest to the Europolis shopping mall is Lesnaya (red line). The actual mall is at just 280 metres by foot from the metro. You can also get to the mall by bus from other places in the city:
| From where | Means of Transport to Europolis mall |
| Metro station Chornaya Rechka (blue line, 4,2 kilometers from the mall) | Coach numbers 33 and 137 Minibus K-373 |
| Metro Vyborgskaya (red line, 2,7 kilometers from the mall) | Tram 20 & 38 Minibus K-152 |
| Metro Ploschad Muzhestva (3,4 kilometers from the mall, red line) | Tram 61 & 38 Minibus K-10, K-240A |
| Metro Petrogradskaya (4,4 kilometers from the mall, blue line) | Coach 31 & 33 Minibus K-131, K-175А |
A list of the shops at this mall, you can find right here on the mall’s website, the website is in Russian only, but most store names are in English anyway.
Mega Parnas
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Opening times:
Stores, Mon- Thur Sun from 10.00 – 22.00, Fri – Sat 10.00 – 23.00
Ikea: Mon- Thur Sun from 10.00 – 22.00, Fri – Sat 10.00 – 23.00
Ashan hypermarket: : Mon- Thur Sun: 08.30 – 22.00, Fri – Sat: 08.30 – 23.00
Nearby metro station/How to get there: The nearest metro station is Parnas, but the mall is located 7,4 kilometers from the metro and the area is not at all nice to walk in. Since you’re going to need transport to get to the mall anyway, you might as well take a bus from another metro station if that’s more convenient for you
| From Metro Station | Transport to Mega Parnas |
| Parnas | coach number 148 minibus K-674 |
| Prospekt Prosvescheniya | minibus № K-1 minibus K-176 |
| Akademicheskaya | minibus K-176 |
| Grazhdansky Prospekt | minibus K-2 |
| Devyatkino | minibus K-679 minibus K-680 |
| Komendantsky Prospekt (prospekt Ispytateley 35-39) | Until 31 August 2019 there will be a free coach from this address to the mall. It leaves once every hour from 12:00 until 19:00. If it’ll be a success, they will probably continue this free route in September. |
Mega Parnas is a bit smaller than the Mega mall at Dybenko.
Shops: on the mall’s Russian language website you get an overview of the shops there.
Mega Parnas is good to visit if you have to get something from Ikea. If you don’t need anything from Ikea I wouldn’t bother going there, because it is really outside of the city.
Leto
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Opening times:
Shops: Daily from 10.00 – 22.00
Ashan hypermarket: Daily from 08.30 – 22.00
Cinema: Daily from 10.00 – 02.00
How to get there: the nearest metro station is Zvyozdnaya, but from there it’s still a 3,3 kilometer walk to the mall. Of course there is public transport which will drop you right at the mall.
| Fom | Public Transport to Leto Mall |
| Zvyozdnaya metro | free minibus between 11:30–22:30, every 20 minutes |
| Kupchino metro | free minibus between 11:30–22:30, every 20 minutes |
| Park Pobedy metro | free minibus (get on at Basseynaya Ulitsa) between 11:30–22:30, every 20 minutes |
| Moskovskaya metro | free minibus between 11:30–22:30, every 20 minutes Paid minibuses 33, 100, 403, 449, 545 |
| City of Pushkin | Free minibus (get on at the railway station) between 11:30–22:30, every 20 minutes |
As you can see there are a lot of free shuttles to the mall, but not everybody is happy with the drivers of these shuttles.
On the mall’s website (external link in Russian only) you get an overview of the stores located there. If you like having a wide choice of stores, but dislike huge crowds pushing you around, like in Galeria in the weekend, Leto mall may be a good option to do some shopping. Especially if you’re in the southern part of the city.
City Mall
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Opening times:
Stores: daily from 10.00 – 22.00
Cinema: daily from 10.00 – 03.00
On the mall’s Russian language website (external link) you can get an overview of the stores at City Mall.
How to get there: The easiest way to get to City Mall is by metro. From metro station Pionerskaya, you just have to cross the road to get to the mall. There are also a lot of buses and minibuses going down prospekt Ispytateley and Kolomyazhsky prospekt. They all stop at City Mall as well.
If you live in the North of Saint Petersburg, city mall is a great mall to visit. You can find everything you need here. Some people have concerns about the complex’ fire safety. This personally didn’t concern me, because I usually don’t pay attention to that. But it’s something to take into account.
And I hope you don’t hate pigeons. They sometimes fly into the mall and eat the leftovers at the foodcourt.
Continent at Zvozdnaya
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Opening times:
Stores: daily from 10.00 – 22.00
Prisma hypermarket: daily from 07.00 – 23.00
Cinema: daily from 10 AM until the last movie ends
Entertainment center “Madagascar” (ropes course and trampoline) daily from 10.00 – 22.00
How to get there: The easiest way to get to Continent Mall at Zvozdnaya is by metro to Zvozdnaya station. The mall is just 100 metres from there.
If you’re in the South of Saint Petersburg, this is a good and modern mall to do your shopping. Although it’s modern, it’s not the most comfortable mall to visit with a baby buggy (unless you’re prepared to do some heavy lifting).
Nevsky Center
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Opening times: daily from 10.00 – 23.00
How to get there: Nevsky Center is located in the middle of the city center at Nevsky prospekt. If you’re coming from outside of the the center, the easiest way to get there is by metro to station Ploschad Vosstania. Once there it’s maybe 20 meters to the mall, you just have to cross Vosstania street. Alternatively, if you’re travelling on the green line, you can travel to metro station Mayakovskaya and cross Nevsky prospekt to get to the mall.
I think Nevsky Center is by far not the best place for shopping in Saint Petersburg. But it has one asset: a great location. Located in the heart of the city, you’ll probably wind up somewhere near it anyway. And if you’re in a hurry, visiting Nevsky Center might be your best option.
Luxurious Shopping on Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street
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I already wrote about the attractiveness of Bolshaya Konyushennaya street in my blog post about the best bars in Saint Petersburg.
This is one of the most luxurious areas of the city and if you want to shop here, you’d better be prepared to spend a lot of money. Or you can just look with awe at some of the jaw-dropping prices in this area of the city, if that is your kind of thing.
The good thing about shopping in this area is that you don’t have huge crowds in the stores here even though you are in the very center of the city. In fact some of the single brand stores seem permanently empty, but I guess they are just waiting for one rich person to come along and make their day.
DLT (ДЛТ)
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Address: 21–23a Bolshaya Konyushennaya st.(Google Maps)
Opening Times: daily from 10:00 AM–10:00 PM
DLT stands for Dom Leningradsky Torgovli, which means Leningrad trading house. That sounds very unpretentious, but believe me this place is anything but unpretentious. Maybe you’re familiar with Harrod’s in London. This place is in the same price category. It is far not as big though.
Because prices of clothing in Russia in general are higher than in other European countries DLT tries to attract customers with the promise that their prices are not higher than in Milan.
If you have to the cash and you are willing to pay for quality clothing DLT is definitely worth a visit.
Gostiny Dvor
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Address: Nevsky prospekt 35
Opening times: daily from 10:00–22:00
How to get there: This building is huge and located in the very center, you won’t be able to avoid it. Gostiny Dvor has its own metro station, named after the department store. One of the entrances to this metro station is actually located inside the building. That is something the city’s modern shopping malls can only dream off.
Dating from the 18th century and occupying a total surface of 78 000 square meters, 13 000 square of which are retail space, Gostiny Dvor is a shopping mall avant la lettre. Literally in the 18th century traders from my native country the Netherlands set up shop here to make their fortune. Back then Saint Petersburg was one of the richest cities in the world and these traders had to travel for 2 months under harsh circumstances to get to Russia’s capital (back then Saint Petersburg, not Moscow was the capital of Russia).
And that historic aspect of the complex is the most interesting about it in my opinion. If you want to get a feel of the history of the building and wonder how people used to live and trade here, go here. If you just want to get the most interesting items for the best prices, you’re better off visiting one of the largest malls of the city I mentioned above. Anyway, with its prominent location in the heart of the city it is impossible to miss this huge yellow building which occupies the entire block between, Dumskaya Street, Nevksy Prospekt, Sadovaya Street and Lomonosov Street.
What I find interesting about Gostiny Dvor is its atmosphere of faded glory, which you can not only notice because of the building’s history, but also because of the older ladies that tend to work here. They tend to have such a different attitude from the younger people who work at the modern shopping malls. Probably the older ladies who work at Gostiny Dvor were working there already during Soviet times. Obviously standards of services in the non-capitalist Soviet state were quite different from the ones most of us are used to. But try to take this uninterested attitude of Gostiny Dvor’s salespeople with a smile, remember this was how things used to be for them. Anyway I find this symbiosis between the building, its history and the people who work there fascinating.
Au Pont Rouge
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Address: River Moika Embankment 73 (Google Maps)
Opening times: daily from 10:00 – 22:00
In this building, the name of which translates from French as “at the red bridge” was built in 1907 under the auspices of a Dutchman and a Belgian. Looking at this marvellous building I wonder whether they were able to recuperate their investment in the roughly ten years they had before they were dispossessed by the new Soviet authorities. I would love to find out. The important thing is that this building withstood the ravages of time and is welcoming visitors again.
This building proudly stands on the corner of Gorokhovaya Street and the Moyka River embankment. It looks very impressive. From the outside the building looks very attractive with old fashioned advertising copy on its wall, which for some reason look so much more tasteful than its modern equivalent. From the outside everything about this building looks very classy. But what about the inside?
Prices at au pont rouge are comparable to the ones DLT: very high. And most of their collection is just for females. For male clothing, this is not the best place. But for lovers of architecture and those who like to get a taste of what a department store in prerevolutionary Saint Petersburg looked like I highly recommend to visit this place.
Conclusion
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I hope you got some useful information to prepare and execute your shopping sprees in Russian Northern capital. What is your favorite place for shopping in Saint Petersburg? You can leave a comment below.