The best fashion and gift stores Kazakhstan

Timetable

Stores and shopping centers are generally open every day in urban centers and tourist areas. Small craftsmen also open the doors of their stores and workshops every day in the high tourist season, but may reduce their opening hours or days in winter. For shopping, the experience is often limited to Almaty and Astana, which have a few small craft stores. In the rest of the country, you'll have to go directly to the craftsmen, or buy local products at the bazaar. These always close on a weekly basis, usually on Mondays.

Budget & Tips

As tourism is not really massive in Kazakhstan, craft production remains limited. In Almaty, Turkestan and Aktau, however, you'll find silk and felt production, etc. Carpets are all imported (from Turkmenistan or Iran at best, often from India or China as well). In terms of handicrafts, Kazakhstan has a long tradition of nomadism, and most everyday objects catered to the needs of this lifestyle: wool weaving, leather tanning, bone carving, the manufacture of small objects or wooden furniture and jewelry making. The best way to be sure of finding quality objects is to visit the workshops themselves. Souvenir stores are often limited to magnets, mugs and trinkets made in China.

What's very local

Felt is the material par excellence for making yurt canvas, but also for slippers, hats, vests, furniture covers and stuffed animals. It really is the benchmark craft material in Kazakhstan. And while its manufacture may seem a little rustic, some craftsmen don't hesitate to turn it into luxury or design objects by embellishing it with silk, semi-precious stones or art embroidery.

In Kazakhstan, haggling is an integral part of business relations. You need to know the price range and try to reach its lowest limit, which is easy enough on the bazaars where you just have to listen to the ongoing negotiations, but more complicated in the case of handicrafts, where it's difficult to know how many people have worked on a given item, and for how long. If your range is wrong, you'll either lose out by overpaying, or you'll offend the other party by offering too low a price, who will then leave the game immediately.

Tourist traps

In Bishkek's museums and small souvenir stores, avoid "chinoiseries", pale imitations of local crafts or Soviet antiques. Busts of Lenin and Stalin are legion in the country's stores, but not necessarily authentic!