Spanish Phrases: Shopping in Spanish

On this page, we'll look at names of shops in Spanish and some useful Spanish shopping phrases.

Note: a Spanish shopping crossword and wordsearch are available to help you learn this vocabulary.

Shops in Spanish

First, some very generic words for shops in Spanish:

una tienda	-	a shop
una tienda departamental	-	a department store
una tiendita	-	a small shop, corner shop
una plaza (comercial)	-	an shopping centre, mall
un mercado	-	a market
el centro comercial	-	the shops, the shopping centre
el super(mercado)	-	the supermarket

 Suggest a change / cambios sugeridos

In general, you can use the phrase una tienda de X to refer to a shop selling X. Here are some common examples:

una tienda de comestibles	-	a grocer's (UK), drugstore (US)
una tienda de discos	-	music shop, record shop
una tienda de deportes	-	a sports shop
una tienda de flores	-	a florist's, flower shop
una tienda de periódicos	-	a newsagent's
una tienda de regalos	-	a gift shop
una tienda de ropa	-	a clothes shop

 Suggest a change / cambios sugeridos

If you're not sure of the exact word for a particular shop, then a good strategy is to use una tienda de... as it will still be understood. However, here are some more specific words for certain types of shop:

una carnicería	-	a butcher's
una droguería (Spain)	-	a DIY store, hardware shop
una dulcería	-	a sweet shop, candy shop
una farmacia	-	a pharmacy, chemist's, drugstore
una ferretería	-	a hardware shop
una florería	-	a florist's
una floristería (Spain)	-	a florist's
una frutería	-	a greengrocer's, fruit shop
una joyería	-	a jeweller's, jewellery shop
una juguetería	-	a toyshop
una librería	-	a bookshop, bookstore
una óptica	-	an optician's
una panadería	-	a bakery
una pastelería	-	a bakery, cake shop
una verdulería	-	a greengrocer's
una zapatería	-	a shoe shop

 Suggest a change / cambios sugeridos

Pronunciation tip: many of these words end in -ía, with the stress on the i. Be careful of farmacia, which has the stress on the -ma- syllable.

See also...

 Spanish shopping phrases