Buying Clothes
Spain isn’t the most stylish country in Europe but some nice clothes can be found if you search. Spanish clothes tend to be very colourful and the Spanish don’t seem to worry about what colours and tones suit them.
The places to go for modern fashion are the large shopping centres that have many of the major fashion chains such as Zara, Mango and Naf Naf. El Corte Inglés, the large department store based in most cities sells designer labels and branded fashion for adults and children.
Markets also sell some good clothes but be prepared to barter on price.
Some great bargains can be found at the end of the season in the beach stores when shops are trying to offload their stock. They often sell some very nice everyday wear as well as beach wear.
Spain really comes into its own with its shoes. It has some fantastic shoe shops that are reasonably priced due to the availability of leather. UK shoes are often made in Spain.
Children’s clothes are a different matter. They are expensive and there isn’t much choice. The Spanish adore children and dress them well. You won’t often see a Spanish child wearing hand-me-downs or second hand clothes. This means there isn’t much choice of reasonably priced clothes shops for children (in the UK we’d use supermarkets, Mothercare, Primark etc). One good place for children’s clothes is C&A, based in the Ondara shopping Centre.