Shopping

 


Shop

In the city you can find a large quantity and variety of gifts and crafts typical of our country. Ecuador has rich and diverse native cultures such as the "Otavalos" and the "Salasacas", famous and very respected for their sheep's wool wall hangings with original designs, and distintictive of their community, and dyed with natural colors.

In Quito, in the central and northern areas of the city, you can find very good craft stores and boutiques where you can choose the gift of your preference, taste and budget.

In resent years Quito has seen the construction of 2 huge new shopping malls. Here you will find imported luxury goods from Europe and The States together with Burger King and Mc. Donald's. The most luxurious mall is El Jardin, followed by Quicentro, El Bosque and the newly renovated CCI. They are all located around El Parque La Carolina and they have all a food store inside the mall. A new mall, El Recreo,  has been constructed in the South of Quito where the trolley bus-line ends.

For Artesania try the Mariscal area (tourist area) where there are several shops with inexpensive high quality goods. The best being La Galeria and Ekeko at Juan Leon Mera between Veintimilla and Wilson.

Where to shop what:

Food: Supermaxi is the dominating food chain in Quito with many outlets around the city. Mi Comisariato can be found in Quicentro and in the old town. There are several local markets for fruit and vegetables try the Friday market in La Floresta or the permanent markets at Iñaquito in the north or in the old town. There are also many good bakeries, Cyrano in Portugal and Shyris, being the best.

Clothes: The major shopping malls have imported clothes from the US which are quite expensive. If you are looking for inexpensive clothing try the Ipiales market in the old town, behind the presidential palace. You can by sweaters and shirts made from wool at the weekend market at Parque El Ejido.

Drugstores: Fybeca has drugstores which are open 24 hours. There is one at 6 de Diciembre close to Colegio Benalcazar in the north which is new and quite big. All the shopping malls have Fybeca´s.

Music: Try the shopping malls for original recordings and the Ipiales market for inexpensive copied music. The city also has all the well known music chains including Music Plus, Totos. 

Books: Libri Mundo is the top book store in Quito. Their main branch is located in Juan Leon Mera. There is also a huge bookstore next to Café Ceuce in El Jardin (3rd. floor).  

Sport: Marathon sport is the biggest chain with outlets in all the big malls. You will also find other chains like KAO in the same places. For outdoor/camping equipment try...

Household supplies: Sukasa has the biggest collection of household supplies. The stores are situated in Mall El Jardin and El Bosque. In addition there are several chains like Artefacta, Comandato, Orve Hogar which sells electric supplies.

Computers: Several different places to buy computers. Many shops are located close to the intersection of Diego de Almagro and Republica.

Photo: Ecuacolor has high quality development service at reasonable prices and can be found in the Malls and at Av. Amazonas. Kiss photo in Amazona  also has inexpensive photo service.

Art: There are many galleries in Quito offering art of local Ecuadorian artists like, Guayasamin, Kingman, Endera Crow and Viteri.