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Visting Tallinn today, it doesn’t seem possible that only 14 years ago you had to queue for overpriced, over-ripe tomatoes or make do without toothpaste and toilet paper. Now the Old Town is awash with souvenir shops selling everything from amber and Russian dolls to linen tops, wrought-iron candelabras, juniper-wood butter knives and impossibly thick folksy winter socks. Viru Tänav is the main shopping street. There are regular handicraft markets on Raekoja plats, particularly atmospheric during the June Old Town days and at Christmas. Antique shops sell everything from hopefully authentic icons to Soviet army medals and pre-war toys. It’s also worth checking out Estonian designer clothes. Large supermarkets and shopping malls have sprung up everywhere in the last decade, most near the port or on the roads out of town. Off-licences are equally ubiquitous, and cheap. Most shops accept major credit and debit cards and are generally open from 0900 or 1000 to1800 or 1900, although larger supermarkets are open longer and on Sundays and there are several 24-hour shops.
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