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Home - City Guide - Brussels - Shopping | ||
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Shopping Brussels' classic souvenir is chocolate. Fresh creamy pralines are for sale at Wittamer, Place du Grand-Sablon, who have had almost a century to perfect their recipes. Another name to look out for is the top-quality Neuhaus, Grand-Place 27 and Galerie de la Reine 25-27. Cheaper chocolates are available from the popular LÉonidas chain, Boulevard Anspach 46. Belgian biscuits are also a gift guaranteed to bring a guilty smile to the receiver back home. Dandoy, Rue au Beurre 31, produce melt-in-your-mouth macaroons and the Brussels speciality speculoos - a gingerbread biscuit with a crunch. Beer is best bought at Bière Artisanale, ChaussÉe de Wavre 174 (website: www.users.skynet.be/beermania/), which stocks over 400 types of beer and glasses to suit. Designer clothes are clustered around the smart Avenue Louise and Avenue de la Toison d'Or. Established and up-and-coming Belgian designers - such as Ann Demeulemeester, Dries Van Noten and Carine Lauwers - line the fashionable Rue Antoine Dansaert. Innovative Stijl has designer clothes at number 74, underwear at number 47 and children's clothes at Kat en Muis (number 32). Children's and adults' tastes alike are met at Brussels' many comic book shops: among these is centrally located La Boutique Tintin, Rue de la Colline 13. Brussels lace (on show at the Lace Museum, Rue de la Violette 6) is for sale at F Rubbrecht, Grand-Place 23, or at the city's largest lace maker - Manufacture Belge de Dentelle, Galerie de la Reine 6-8. Most of the souvenir lace shops around Grand-Place are less authentic. Every day is market day in different parts of Brussels. Among the best are the flower market (open daily 0800-1800 except on Monday) at Grand-Place (the site of Sunday morning's bird market); antiques at Place du Grand-Sablon on Saturday 0900-1800, Sunday morning 0900-1300; and the flea market at Place du Jeu de Balle in the Marolles district daily 0700-1300. A more standard experience is at hand at City 2 shopping mall, in the shop-studded Rue Neuve, where shops stay open on Fridays until 2000. Standard shopping hours are 1000-1800/1900 but the Grand-Place area stays open until about 2000. Sales tax is 21% and can be refunded by non-EU members from any of the shops affiliated to the Global Refund Belgium (tel: (02) 479 9461) organisation. Participating shops will issue a global refund cheque that should be stamped at customs and then cashed on leaving the country. |