The best fashion and gift stores Northern Macedonia

This shopping center houses some sixty stores: telephony, e-cigarettes, bookshops, florists, jewelers, perfumeries, clothing, sporting goods, furniture, and more. There's also free parking, cafés, Avis car rental, a children's play area for a fee and eight fast-food outlets and restaurants. The Ramstore Mall is part of the Ramstore chain of supermarkets and mini-markets founded by the Turkish Migros group in 2005, and whose network in Northern Macedonia will be taken over in 2021 by City Plaza, a local construction group.

The GTC or "city mall" (Градски Трговски Центар - ГТЦ) is the main shopping place on the western side of the city center. On two levels, it has about 100 stores: food, telephony, ready-to-wear, shoes, jewelry, books, watches, etc. There is also an underground parking lot, travel agencies, restaurants, one or two nightclubs (which often change names and owners), a bowling alley, a conference room and the Millenium cinema. See also "Things to see/do" on the west side.

This jeweler (Македонски Рубин Деко) specializes in "Macedonian rubies", a semi-precious stone whose color oscillates between pale red and pink. A former punk musician, Dejan Škartov, aka Deko, offers brooches, earrings and pendants set with these "rubies" from the Prilep region. The result is superb, inexpensive (from 1,500 MKD) and 100% local. Of particular note are the filigree suns and butterflies: fine silver filaments soldered together to give the effect of embroidery.

This sporting goods store is renowned for its skiing, hiking and mountain biking equipment. It sells and rents good-quality equipment at attractive prices for skiing in Popova Šapksa or Zare Lazarevski, hiking or cycling in the Šar Mountains or Mavrovo national parks. It also has an annex in Mavrovi Anovi, by the lake, 650 m northeast of the Mavrovo National Park information center (daily 7.30am-5.30pm in season).