Any lover of nightlife will undoubtedly be familiar with Plaza Serrano, but Palermo’s most famous square has a different face before the sun sets- every weekend it hosts an independent design fair. Bars and restraunts in the blocks surrounding the plaza move aside tables and open their doors for designers to showcase their clothing and accessories to the hundreds of trendy porteños who frequent the weekly fair. Prices, styles, and items vary greatly; for instance, you might see a stall selling silk tops made from antique scarves next to neon anime bomber jackets. It is this stylistic variety and bazaar-like atmosphere (there are literally hundreds of vendors) that makes it a hot destination for shopaholics and casual browsers alike.
» You are browsing Shopping
Abasto Mall, a huge shopping complex on Corrientes, is the largest shopping complex I have seen in Buenos Aires, or at least the most prominently visible. Built in the 1930’s to serve as a marketplace for all of Buenos Aires, the mall now houses a wide variety of fairly mainstream clothing stores in its tall, concrete structure. On the left corner of the mall is a large McDonald’s, just what you would expect to find in an edifice devoted to consumption and capitalism. What isn’t immediately visible is that this is not the only McDonald’s in the mall, it is one of three. And one of those three is the only Kosher McDonald’s outside of the state of Israel.
Standing next to the largest mosque in South America is an equally enormous “big box store.” The Jumbo and Easy, both Chilean imports, are the South American answer to Target and Wal-Mart. For those expatriates who yearn for fluorescent lighting, crowded aisles and everything you could ever need under one roof – Jumbo is calling your name.
Buenos Aires, among other things, is a city where everything is at your fingertips. What I mean is that everyone delivers! And I’m not talking just about your normal delivery places like pizza shops and chinese food, I’m mean everybody.
Avenida Santa Fe in Buenos Aires stretches its retail lined girth all the way from one end of Capital Federal to the other – Plaza San Martin to Belgrano; creating a corridor of hustle and bustle to nearly steady traffic of thousands of autos and feet. While the shopper in need can probably find anything they want (industrial floor buffer withstanding) there is an inordinate amount of pharmacies, clothing stores, and lingerie shops. I guess women here just wear their undergarments a little harder than in the United States.