Shopping in Riga
There doesn’t exist any shopping street Riga as such. Locals go for shopping to the shopping centres, some visit also Riga Central Market. In this article, I will list all of the most important shopping centres in Riga city centre, near the airport, and outside the city centre.
Shopping centres in the centre of Riga:
Galerija Centrs
The oldest shopping centre in Riga opened in 1938. This shopping centre is home to 140 different stores in four floors, for instance: H&M, Reserved, Calvin Klein Jeans, Gant, G-Star Raw, Karen Millen, Marc’O Polo, Tommy Hilfiger. The fifth-floor houses a spa & beauty centre, and a fitness club.
Galleria Riga
Opened in 2010, it’s one of the newest shopping centres in Riga. This shopping centre is 23,300 square meters of retail space and houses more than 85 stores (biggest are H&M, Monton, Reserved, Cortefiel). In summer months, the 8th floor of Galleria Riga is transformed to the largest restaurant rooftop terrace in the Baltic countries.
Origo
Origo shopping centre is located near the central train station. It features clothes and footwear stores, cafes & restaurants and services.
Stockmann
Stockmann is a Finnish chain of department stores. In their Riga store, they have an area of 11,000 square metres of retail space located on 4 floors. The department store has an inbuilt connection with the ‘cinema Kino Citadele’. The ground floor holds mainly cosmetic, accessory, footwear sections, as well as a coffee shop Costa Coffee and own grocery store. The first floor holds men’s clothing and footwear, while on the second floor one can find women and children clothing and footwear, and toys. The third floor features household items, electronics store Euronics, travel gear as well as the ‘Daily Special Restaurant’. Stockmann department store mainly sells world-famous brands like Hugo Boss, D&G, Moschino and others.
Riga Central Market
Riga Central Market is also an option. Here clothes are cheaper than elsewhere but not always of best quality. In the beginning of 90s, when there were no shopping centres at all, most of Rigans went to Riga Central Market to buy clothes and shoes. Besides clothing and shoes, in Riga Central Market you can buy also food, great selection of everything is available.
Shopping centres near the Riga international airport:
Spice and Spice Home
Spice is one of the largest shopping centres in Latvia, and it’s conveniently located just 5 min drive from the Riga International airport. Many world famous stores are located in Spice like Debenhams, H&M, Armani Jeans.
Spice Home is another shopping centre, located within 2 minutes of walking from Spice shopping centre. This shopping centre has 40 furniture and interior stores as well as electronics store Elkor, altogether covering an area of almost 30,000 square meters
Shopping centres outside Riga city centre:
Mols
This is a medium size shopping centre, located just 10 minutes drive from the city centre. Mols shopping centre has pretty much the same shops as all the other shopping centres. Most convenient and inexpensive is to get to the shopping centre by taxi (will cost max 5 Eur per trip), but you can also take tram Nr.7 or Nr.9 from the Opera to the ‘Maza kalna’ stop.
Alfa
Alfa is one of the biggest shopping centres in Latvia. Almost all of the most known fashion retailers have their outlet in Alfa. There is also a wide selection of restaurants, a fast food court and a cinema. To get to the Alfa shopping centre, Take tram Nr.1 or Nr.1 to stop Alfa’. Journey time is 25 minutes from the city centre.
Riga Plaza
Riga Plaza is a fashion and entertainment centre located less than 10 minutes drive from the centre of Riga. It is also second closest shopping centre to the Riga International airport after Spice shopping centre. This shopping centre has all classic brands like H&M, ZARA, Mango, Pull&Bear, Bershka, as well as it’s the only place in Riga where you will find Peek&Cloppenburg store. Rīga Plaza shopping centre also has a cinema “Multikino”; movies are shown in the original language (with subtitles in Latvian and Russian), entertainment centre “FantasyPark” with bowling lanes, pool tables, video games and a bar. Note that website of the shopping centre is available in Latvian and Russian languages only, so use Google translate for translation.
Elkor Plaza
Elkor Plaza is a second department store in Riga, after Stockmann. This is a huge store that sells everything from famous brand fashion electronics, furniture and children’s toys. You can reach Elkor Plaza from city centre by taking tram Nr.1 or Nr.6 from to the ‘VEF’ stop.
Domina
Another huge shopping centre 15 min drive from city centre. It is a second shopping centre in Riga that has Sportsdirect store (another is Olimpia).
Sky & More
Sky & More is a compact premium shopping centre in Sarkandaugava district of Riga, which is located 10 minutes drive from city centre. The ground floor has a premium grocery store Sky and some services. The first floor offers a great selection of high-quality clothing and footwear from the leading global brands like G-Star RAW, Versace Jeans, Lagerfeld, etc. The first floor also has a fitness centre, beauty salon and several restaurants.
Olimpia
A compact shopping centre, located in Kipsala district of Riga. It has just a few stores, including Rimi hypermarket, Sportsdirect sportswear store and services.