St. Petersburg has a growing number of stores offering a variety of goods and services including everything from hand-made arts, crafts, and souvenirs to fresh fruits and vegetables. Shopping along the city's festive main thoroughfare, Nevsky Prospekt makes you feel more like a native Piterburzhets (Petersburger), and offers the best variety of stores in the city. Bolshoi Prospekt on Vasilyevsky Island also offers a comparatively good selection of stores.
Many stores accept credit cards, and all stores accept only rubles that you can buy at a number of conveniently located currency exchange points (obmennie punkti) throughout the city. You're likely to get the best exchange rates on Nevsky Prospekt, but be sure to bring along your passport. Without a passport you can not change money. Most obmenni punkti charge about 50 cents to change money.
Finally, before you do your shopping, have a look our handy list of stores, markets and galleries and plan you're shopping destinations to save time and money. Good Luck!
