Page 342 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Estonia Latvia & Lithuania

340 TRA VELLERS ’ NEEDS

SHOPPING IN LITHUANIA

The souvenirs and gifts available in Lithuania superior quality and in greater variety can be
usually consist of traditional arts and found at specialist shops, which are
handi crafts made from local materials such commonly located close to the major tourist
as amber, ceramics and wood. Beautiful sights. Food and drink in Lithuania are
handmade flax or linen tablecloths and throw distinctive in taste. The local cheeses and
blankets, garments and soft toys are often smoked meats on offer are varied and
available at reasonable prices. The shops and delicious. The wide choice of Lithuanian
stalls of the Old Towns in the larger cities, as alcohol – such as trauktinės, often described
well as the various resorts, are flooded with as a bitter brandy – as well as vodka and beer,
most of these objects. Handicrafts of a are great souvenirs to carry back home.

Opening Hours
shopping cheque, available at Shopping malls have a main
Shops in Lithuania are usually stores where the “Tax-Free anchor tenant, which tends to
open from 9 or 10am until 6pm Shopping” sign is displayed. be one of the leading nation-
on weekdays. Some gift and Shoppers should have their wide supermarket chains. As a
souvenir shops open at 10am. passport with them at the time result, the range of goods
Food shops and supermarkets of purchase. VAT can be paid available is practically the same
belonging to larger chains often back only if the outward journey as that found in the rest of
open at 8am and close late in is made by air, road or sea; rail is Europe. For more authentic
the evening. exempt. Visitors need to spend a shops, visit the Old Towns in
The Soviet-era practice of minimum of 50 euros, including the major cities.
closing for an hour for lunch is VAT, in a shop in one day to
slowly fading and a handful of claim the refund of sales tax.
supermarkets are open 24 Amber
hours a day. Many shops open Lithuanian artisans have
on Saturdays until 4pm, and Department Stores and applied great imagination to
some in tourist areas and in Shopping Malls the crafting of amber, an indis-
large city and town centres are To meet the growing demands put able part of the country’s
open on Sundays as well. In of local consumers, sprawling cultural heritage. They fashion
smaller towns and villages, local modern shopping complexes it into jewellery, lampshades,
stores close early so visitors are being constructed in writing materials and a great
should avoid leaving shopping Vilnius as well as in most of range of other objects.
until the evening. Lithuania’s large towns and Amber comes in browns,
cities. The malls are replacing greens and other colours,
the old department stores besides the more familiar
How to Pay
dating from the Soviet era, yellow. It is also available as
As in the other countries of whose interiors were usually original polished stones, of
the Baltic region, almost all adapted in the 1990s to fit the which the most valuable
shops in Lithuania accept needs of small traders. and exquisite are those that
major international credit
and debit cards. Some smaller
retail outlets may accept only
cash. Bargaining is rarely
practised except at some
market and souvenir stalls, but
visitors are welcome to try.

VAT and Tax-Free
Shopping
In Lithuania sales tax, known
locally as pridėtinės vertės
mokestis (PVM), is levied on most
goods at a flat rate of 21 per
cent. By law, visitors from non-EU
nations can claim a refund of
sales tax from customs when
they leave the country, provided
they have completed a tax-free Europa (see p342), a stylish shopping mall in Vilnius