Iași shops at two speeds: peasant markets where cheese is cut from the wheel and cash is the only option, and the glass galleries of Palas below the Palace of Culture. Three days covers both, plus Bucium wine cellars and Lăpușneanu's boutiques.
Iași's biggest neighbourhood market, trading daily from around 06:00 to 18:00. Villagers bring telemea cheese, smoked ham, jars of linden honey and hand-knitted wool socks. Cash only, and haggling over the last leu is normal.
The covered central hall behind Anastasie Panu keeps butchers, pickle barrels and dairy counters under one roof, with fruit stalls spilling onto the street outside. Reckon on 8-15 lei a kilo for tomatoes and 30-45 lei for a wheel of sheep cheese.
A working-class market where the flower alley, seed sellers and second-hand tool stands mix with rails of clothing. Best hunting ground for cheap enamelware, glazed ceramic pots and the braided onion and garlic strings locals hang in their kitchens.
A ramshackle flea market on the way up to Copou where retirees spread Communist-era badges, Cucuteni-style pottery copies, vinyl records and rusted keys on blankets. Prices start at a few lei and nothing carries a tag, so you have to ask.
The city's oldest shopping street, pedestrianised and lined with 19th-century facades. Small boutiques sell Romanian-designed clothing, leather bags and silver jewellery between bookshops and cafe terraces. Most open 10:00-19:00 and close on Sunday.
Romania's design-led bookshop chain fills a bright hall beside the Palas gardens: art books, Romanian literature in translation, loose-leaf tea, ceramics and stationery. A tea tin runs 25-40 lei and illustrated albums 80-150 lei.
The city's original mall on Bulevardul Tudor Vladimirescu, with roughly 150 units mixing Romanian labels and international chains, plus a large food court. Open 10:00-22:00 daily, and the Palas Campus side often hosts pop-ups by local designers.
Built into the terraced gardens below the Palace of Culture, Palas mixes glass-fronted fashion floors with a covered piazza of cafes. Evening is when the fountains light up and the lower-level boutiques stay open until 22:00.
The Bucium hillside winery on the southern edge of the city sells its own Fetească Neagră, Busuioacă de Bohotin and Aligoté straight from the cellar door. Bottles run 25-70 lei, and tastings have to be booked a day ahead.
A Lăpușneanu institution for cake and packaged sweets — cozonac, walnut biscuits and boxed chocolates that survive a flight home. Counter staff will wrap a gift box; expect 15-25 lei a slice and 40-60 lei for a filled box.
The artists' union gallery on Strada Cuza Vodă sells work directly from Iași painters, printmakers and ceramicists, with rotating shows every few weeks. Small linocuts and icons painted on glass start around 200 lei; canvases run into the thousands.
A neighbourhood market in Tătărași that almost no visitor reaches: jars of pickled gogoșari, sheepskin vests, hand-carved wooden spoons and cheap enamel bowls, sold by people who speak no English but will happily mime a price.