The best boutiques for shopping in Lisbon

As a port city built on commerce, Lisbon’s shops continue to contribute to its old-world charm. Launched in 2015, the Lojas Com História project protects more than 100 of Lisbon’s antique shops, recognising and protecting their contribution to cultural history. These might include a crammed haberdashery or a historic tobacco shop tucked away in a charming corner – the kind of establishments now vanishing from many other cities. Some of these shops date back to the 1700s, a constant through wars, revolutions, natural disasters and political upheavals.

Elsewhere, Lisbon’s contemporary commercial edge is gaining ground across the city. Avenida da Liberdade displays designer and luxury labels, while smaller concept stores are filled with emerging Portuguese designers and artists. Before venturing out, make sure to check each store’s opening hours carefully: high summer and public holidays often mean closure. Many are also close to Lisbon’s best restaurants and sun-soaked alfresco bars for rejuvenating glass of vino verde when you’re done.

From handcrafted Portuguese ceramics to vintage fashion and suitcase-friendly homeware, here are the best shops in Lisbon.

The best shops in Santos

Kintu Studio

Best for: Contemporary Portuguese artwork and homewares
Address: R. Poiais de São Bento 58, 1200-349 Lisboa, Portugal

Kintu Studio is somewhere between a gallery and a concept store, with artisanal pieces and wares handcrafted by Portuguese artists and designers. In this minimal enclave, you might find off-kilter milk jugs and fluted stoneware from Têpê Ceramics, balmy Casa Bohemia candles made in the Algarve, or woven baskets from local designers. The store holds events in partnership with artists such as ceramic workshops, art exhibitions and tattoo pop-ups. Kintu also offers artist studio tours around the city for 30 EUR per person.

Salted Books

Best for: Page-turning fiction and glossy coffee table books
Address: Rua do Marquês de Abrantes 96, 1200-720 Lisboa, Portugal

For English-speaking visitors who’ve raced through their holiday reading, Salted Books is a godsend. English author and journalist Alex Holder opened the store in 2021 after noticing the gap in Lisbon’s market. The curated blue shelves hold a wide range of titles across feminism, arts and travel, with a particularly strong fiction section. Every month, the bookstore hosts fireside chats with international authors such as Georgina Lawton, Emma Gannon and Lotte Jeffs, among others. And if you end up staying in Lisbon longer than planned, writing courses and workshops are regular occurrences.

The best shops in Chiado

A Vida Portuguesa

Best for: Portugalia handmade wares and heritage brands
Address: Various locations

A Vida Portuguesa, which translates to “the Portuguese life”, started when journalist Catarina Portas began investigating heritage products in 2007. Delighted by the quality craft manufacturing techniques, she decided to bring Portugal’s distinctive legacy of wares such as dyed willow-straw baskets, woven Alentejo rugs and ceramics, into one shop. Today, A Vida Portuguesa embodies that same ethos across four Lisbon locations. Its Chiado outpost is housed in an old perfume factory and shows wares in antique cabinets and jars, while the Intendente outpost has the biggest selection of pantry items, such as tinned sardines and olive oil. Its Depozito space is housed in a large warehouse in collaboration with Portugal Manual and stocks handcrafted items, posters and display cabinets of archival packaging. Stepping inside any one of these magical venues, you’ll discover shelves overflowing with an eclectic mix of Benamôr 1925 facial creams, Portugal’s Paste Couto toothpaste, Coração Factory cleaning products and Guarda Blankets.

Caza das Vellas Loreto

Best for: Heavenly candles and scented votives
Address: Rua do Loreto 53, 1200-241 Lisboa, Portugal

Run by the same family for centuries, the Caza das Vellas Loreto was founded on 14 July 1789, coinciding with the beginning of the French Revolution. With its characteristic aroma of honey and essential oils wafting out into the cobbled Loreto street, this antiquarian candlemaker is hard to walk past without detouring. Enshrined in time, the store has the feel of a small wooden chapel with arched doorways and shelves displaying candles according to the liturgical and seasonal rhythms, where votive candles mingle with those in the shape of pomegranates, apples and golden pine cones. The store specialises in hand-embroidered candles, but customers can also put in custom orders.

Cerâmicas na Linha

Best for: Colourful glazed ceramics at a steal
Address: Rua do Capelo 16, 1200-224 Lisboa, Portugal

Visitors to Lisbon never leave the city without stopping at the celebrated Cerâmicas na Linha.The large shop offers a wide selection of Portuguese ceramics, mostly in modern minimal styles and gleaming with colourful glazes. From speckled egg cups to bloated salt pigs and idiosyncratic Arte Bordallo cabbages and peppers – the shop seemingly holds every kitchen item imaginable. Products are mostly priced by kilo, making it a budget-friendly option, and there’s an ‘imperfect’ section where discounted seconds are available.

Pop Closet

Best for: Colour-curated racks of luxury designer brands
Address: Rua Calçada do Sacramento 48, 1200-394 Lisboa, Portugal

Pop Closet is home to Lisbon’s best selection of luxury vintage. Sourced on founder Antonio Castel-Branco’s lengthy buying trips abroad, he brings a New York sensibility to Lisbon, reflected in the brightly lit, colourful design of the store. The main store on Calçada do Sacramento is devoted to premium brands, streetwear, low-tier designer clothing and a selection of vintage pieces, while a second location on Rua do Almirante, just 100 metres away, offers a tight selection of high-end luxury pieces.

Skin Life

Best for: Exquisite scents, niche perfumes and high-end skincare
Address: Rua Manuel Jesus de Coelho 4A, 1150-228 Lisboa, Portugal

Skin Life is an olfactory universe secreted away in a century-old tearoom. Although it has an in-house label called Next Memory, the shop holds a wide range of beauty products, skincare and luxury scents. From natural to molecular perfumes, it stocks many labels you might not have come across, but what makes it a must-visit is the store assistants, who have an in-depth knowledge of the way vanillas, botanics and spice behave on warmed skin. In both its Avendia and Chiado outposts, each store has an in-house beauty clinic for a last minute Super Hydra Facial or (Re-)Model Lymphatic Drainage, which is bliss after a day’s shopping.

The Feeting Room

Best for: A one-stop shop of local talent and emerging designers
Address: Calçada do Sacramento 26, 1200-203 Lisboa, Portugal

Housed in an industrial former bakery, The Feeting Room displays around 100 local and emerging brands on curated shelving across a 300 sq m space. It sources Lisbon’s best designers, like streetwear brand Hibu, Lisbon-based cotton essentials brand +351 or abstract gold and silver jewellery by Inês Telles Atelier. Browsers will find a diverse range of fashion accessories, jewellery, clothing, homeware and travel items. An espresso bar is on hand for those needing a pep, using locally roasted beans from So Coffee Roasters.

Under the Cover

Best for: A graphic designer’s dream with indie magazine galore
Address: Rua do Marquês Sá da Bandeira 88, 1050-060 Lisboa, Portugal

A contemporary bookshop with wall-to-wall magazines and journals, Under the Cover holds local Portuguese magazines as well as those found further afield such as Systems Beauty, Bloom and Konfekt. From rare titles to more popular publications, what every item has in common is their printing quality and discerning design. Print fanatics and design magazine addicts will be in their element. Opposite the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, it’s within easy reach.

La Paz

Best for: Urban fisherman-core
Address: Rua das Flores 16, 1200-195 Lisboa, Portugal

La Paz is a menswear label founded in 2011 by André Bastos Teixeira and José Miguel de Abreu. Initially travelling in Portugal to meet local manufacturers, the pair began learning about garments linked to specific regions such as the plaid Nazaré shirt, the “capote” from Alentejo or the wool jumpers and socks from Serra da Estrela. With this heritage in mind, collections tend to feature simple colour palettes, clean silhouettes and sustainable fabrics from local producers. Drop into the brand’s Rua das Flores store, an old ship’s hardware shop with lofty ceilings and antique fish-nets laced around low-lit lighting, to pick up a few timeless pieces for adventures along the Atlantic coast.

Arquívos

Best for: A tight edit of on-trend, vintage fashion finds
Address: Rua de Santo Amaro, 1200-803 Lisboa, Portugal

Inspired by Parisian fashion savoir-faire, the original Arquívos vintage store on Rua de Santo Amaro holds a selection of hand-picked premium brands that have a Y2K streetwear style angled towards the Gen-Z crowd. AQ2, an extension of Arquivos, opened in 2024 with luxury designer second-hand goods. Brands such as Dior, Polo Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Louis Vuitton, Carhartt and Gucci grace the scaffolding shelves. Don’t leave without a free lemon (grown on the couple’s tree) or greeting the shop dog Gigi.

Earlymade

Best for: Minimal urban menswear with quality fabrics
Address: Rua Poiais de São Bento 47, 1200-343 Lisboa, Portugal

Housed in an old 1950s grocery store, Earlymade is a marble-lined fashion and lifestyle concept store stocking eclectic international brands that make their clothes in Portugal, including London menswear brand Folk, Portuguese brand Yogi Footwear, and Parisian-based menswear label Homecore. There is a focus on unfussy menswear with simple cuts and good quality material. Walk to the back and discover a cafe in a walled outdoor garden serving specialty coffee and brunch. Look out for occasional supper clubs, which take place in store.

Mustique

Best for: An upbeat zany fashion label local to Lisbon
Address: Rua Poiais de São Bento 90, 1200-350 Lisboa, Portugal

On Lisbon’s beaches and in its fish shacks, you’ll notice almost everybody is wearing Mustique. Although unisex, the brand is best known for its line of crisp men’s shirts and funky T-shirts in sunny colours, bright stripes, checked prints and playful illustrations and fonts. Proudly designed and made in Portugal, Mustique is quintessentially Lisbon and characterises the city’s sunny spirit. Friends Vera Caldeira and Pedro Ferraz, who founded the label, have gone on to launch two flagship stores in Santos and São Bento.

Groovie Records

Best for: Rare records from every decade and country
Address: Rua do Angelina Vidal 80A, 1170-017 Lisboa, Portugal

Champions of garage rock, Lisbon-based Groovie Records is a label, distributor and music producer based in a retro shop in Anjos. Whether it’s Brazilian psych, Portuguese jazz or gems from smaller, independent labels around the world, founder Edgar Raposo’s research shines through in meticulously curated compilations and reissues of rare records. Look out for their own releases such as Os Tártaros or Os Pontas that exemplify Portugal’s legacy of surf, garage and psychedelia.

Son of a Gun

Best for: International skate and streetwear
Address: Rua da Assunção 107, 1100-043 Lisboa, Portugal

What Son of a Gun’s Chiado store lacks in space, it makes up for in exclusive brands that can be difficult to find. On a quiet backstreet, its concrete and stone walls ensconce streetwear gems from Carhartt, All Gone, Gramicci, Patagonia or C.P. Company – often at great prices. Look out for Selva, a homegrown Portuguese label, and SOG’s own in-house unisex collection that’s 100 per cent made in Portugal. If you ask nicely, the staff are known to tip off tourists to good club nights.