You can buy some lovely hand crafted Czech wooden toys and puppets in Prague, which make perfect gifts. As you wander around you’ll find them in an abundance of souvenir shops (especially in the Old Town), but for value for money try the department stores, Kotva in particular.
Traditional style quality ceramics (Keramika), lace and textiles shops are everywhere. Check out the beautifully hand painted Easter eggs which can be found in most of these shops.
Since I first came to Prague in 2001, shopping has come on leaps and bounds and you can now find the usual suspects here as you would at home. Marks and Spencer are pretty much all over the place, with the branch on Wenceslas Square boasting a café. Benetton, C & A, Bodyshop, Mango, Mothercare, H&M, Debenhams (with the pricey toilets, hello Kerry!) can all now be found in Prague. Shopping centres are springing up everywhere and there is a new one being built opposite Kotva department store, due to open in 2007.
A word of warning, clothes tend to be more expensive here, I’ve never being able to find out whether or not it’s because these stores are franchises or because of Czech tax. For example, in the UK there’s no VAT on children’s clothes where as there is here. You could end up paying a fiver more for a jumper in M & S here than you would at home. You can work it out easily enough, as these stores tend to just stick the Czech price over the UK one. If you ever see a woman in Marks peeling stickers off with one hand with a calculator in the other hand, that’s me.
You can buy some beautiful crystal in the Czech Republic. Again, there are an enormous amount of shops to choose from and you can go crystal crazy just going in and of them all day. Don’t be seduced by sale or factory signs, the prices aren’t any cheaper than the shop next door. My favourite crystal store is called Celetna Crystal which is on Celetna Street, off Old Town Square. Every piece of crystal I’ve ever bought, (including my beautiful chandelier lovingly carried back to Tooting), was bought here. The shop is over 3 floors, staff don’t follow you around, and they will deliver to your hotel and can also arrange delivery overseas. Not the cheapest and not the most expensive crystal store in Prague but a pleasant and civilised environment to shop in, they even have sofas for foot weary shoppers to rest on. The store also sells Amber and Garnets.