Rebajas,Sales and Shopping in Madrid

I like shopping in Madrid.Whether its for clothes,furniture,gifts…apart from grocery shopping I generally like shopping in Madrid. Fortunately the Rebajas, Sales and Shopping in Madrid can be an cost effective experience if you know where to go. When I first came to Madrid, it seemed that the only place to shop was El Corte Ingles, but thank God that after a while I got to know other places to shop.There is nothing wrong with El Corte Ingles, yes its on the expensive side, but my reason for not frequenting the place is the fact that it is a department store, and I don’t like department stores. See another article here about a special discount for tourists at El Corte Ingles.  Now lets go shopping in Madrid…

Popular Places to Shop in Madrid

Fuencarral Street:

This street features some sporty, alternative and urban clothes stores from Adidas, Diesel, Quicksilver, Energie, O’neil, Puma, G-Star, Foot Locker and Levi´s to gothic and tattoo bars.You can also find boutiques like Divina Providencia and Glam. One of the big attractions of Fuencarral street is the Mercado de Fuencarral (Market of Fuencarral). Apart from housing some accessory and indie fashion clothes its also popular for hosting various parties throughout the year as well as traditional fiestas like the burial of the sardine or El Entierro de la Sardina in Spanish. Find out the history and tradition of this peculiar fiesta in which some theatre group actors weep and sing for the sardine here . One of the most enduring parties at the Mercado de Fuencarral is a rave party which takes part during one entire hot day of July. On this day music is brought out onto the street. The Mercado de Fuencarral is also a regular stop on the day of the Gay Pride in Madrid.

My other favourite shops in Fuencarral include the scented candle shop Velas de la Ballena (location Calle de Fuencarral 47) .Im still hoping they will create a candle in the shape of an artichoke. The Japanese shop Muji (location Calle de Fuencarral 36 – 38) where one can find simplistic but elegantly designed household items, office accessories, clothes and other work and free time complements. You can get to Fuencarral street from metro Gran Vía or metro Tribunal (that’s halfway along the street) or finally metro Bilbao going towards metro Gran Vía.

I usually go shopping in Fuencarral for clothes if Im going to a party and don’t want to show up dressed the same as someone else…something that could happen if one goes shopping at Zara, Blanco or H&M. There are also some vintage stores in the street or equally accessible just by getting into any of the other streets that cross Fuencarral. The location of the Fuencarral street is curiously separating the neighbourhood of Malasaña, a neighbourhood popular for being a lively night spot with bohemian and hippy tendencies and Chueca a vibrant gay neighbourhood. Fuencarral street has recently been refurbished into a pedestrian street only, so only police cars monitoring the area disrupt the sea of people going up and down the street.

Serrano Street and Barrio Salamanca (Salamanca neighbourhood):

Serrano street is known between the locals as the golden mile, and no one could have said it better. Serrano Street and Barrio Salamanca make up one of the exclusive and richest parts of Madrid. The rich and famous are usually spotted here and the streets have on each side of their pavements (sidewalks) some of the highest surface per square metre rates in Madrid. It is no surprise as most of the houses of haute couture in Europe have their addresses here. The streets have only been recently opened to the general public after long months of civil works which many merchants have claimed had bankrupted them. Now the streets are wide, many trees have since been planted and there are several benches too. Look out for the metal stumps along the pavements which have been placed to resist los aluniceros (exclusive and luxury shop robbers who break into a shop by driving a car through. They are usually highly organised and swift).

There are numerous luxury and exclusive jewellery, accessory, clothing shops to choose from. If you love burning plastic (shopping), the latest and most desirable trends from fashion power houses like  Hermès, Dolce & Gabanna, Channel, Dior as well as Spanish designers like Adolfo Domínguez who recently inaugurated a 6 floor building with his shop, Elena Benaroch, Vittorio y Luchino, Agatha Ruíz de la Prada and Caramelo will thrill and excite you. If you are looking for precious stones then don’t miss Brooking, Bulgari, Carrera y Carrera, Cartier or Wempe. The following addresses should also make the list of stops for a high budget shopper: For bags visit Louis Vuiton in Ortega y Gasset 17, not forgeting Loewe in. Get designer shoes from Manolo Blahnik (Serrano, 50), Jimmy Choo (Ortega y Gasset, 15) and Tod`s (Ortega y Gasset, 17).

There are also shopping centres in Barrio Salamanca like the former Spanish press offices, ABC Serrano, which is now home to perfume shops, clothing and shoes shops of big fashion brands. After all that shopping you can also find restaurants throughout the mall.  There are various ways to get to Serrano street and Barrio Salamanca by public transport including metros Goya, Serrano y Velazquez…however, I assume if you are shopping here you would be coming in a taxi or drop and go private car.

Would you like to shop at outlet stores of your favourite brand stores located in the city centre? Our ebook lists dozens outlets stores  here:goo.gl/Rm7PSO