Kazan shops in two languages. Tatar craft — embroidered ichigi boots, kalfak caps, tyubeteika skullcaps — sits beside Soviet-era arcades, riverside farm markets and new-build malls. Three days, ruble prices, and the addresses locals actually use.
Kazan's main food market on Moskovskaya, open roughly 07:00–18:00 daily. Tatar dairy rows sell katyk and korot cheese balls from 200₽/kg, horse-meat kazylyk sausage from 900₽/kg, plus Uzbek dried fruit and honey. Cash preferred; haggling expected on bulk.
Factory outlet for the Arsk National Souvenir plant, the historic maker of Tatar ichigi — soft leather boots with mosaic appliqué stitched by hand. Ichigi run 8,000–25,000₽, embroidered tyubeteika skullcaps 1,500–4,000₽, kalfak caps from 2,500₽. Card accepted.
A wooden mock-village complex behind Tukaya street where several small workshops sell what they make on site: birch-bark boxes, felted valenki, hand-thrown Tatar ceramics glazed in green and gold. Most stalls open 11:00–20:00; makers are usually behind the counter.
Tatarstan's home-grown supermarket chain and the best edible-souvenir stop: halal meat counters, Chelny milk, Tatarstan buckwheat honey in 500g jars from 450₽, and vacuum-packed chak-chak that survives a flight. Open 08:00–23:00, cards fine.
The 19th-century Alexandrovsky Passage-era trading house at the Kremlin end of Kremlyovskaya now houses local labels alongside Russian designers. Tatarstan-made linen, modest-fashion lines and jewellery; dresses 6,000–30,000₽. Open 10:00–21:00.
An independent art centre in a converted industrial block near the bus station, with the city's sharpest bookshop: Russian small-press art titles, zines, Tatar-language poetry reprints and local risograph prints from 800₽. Café attached; open 11:00–21:00.
The glass-fronted mall on Ploshchad Tukaya, Kazan's original upmarket centre and still the anchor of the Peterburgskaya boutique strip. Four floors of Russian and Turkish labels, a good perfume hall, and a rooftop café over the square. Open 10:00–22:00.
Kazan's own jewellery house, founded 1993 and still manufacturing in Tatarstan. Known for gold pieces using Tatar tugra-script monograms and crescent motifs; silver from 3,000₽, gold from 20,000₽. Certificates issued for customs on the way out.
The Sloboda's neighbourhood market beside the Mardjani Mosque, where Tatar families buy for Friday: halal beef, homemade gubadiya pie layers, dried kurut and prayer caps sold from the same rows. Small, unpolished, all in Tatar and Russian; open 08:00–19:00.
The permanent stall cluster in the pedestrian subway below the Kremlin walls: magnets from 100₽, painted Kazan cat figurines 400–1,500₽, Tatar-pattern scarves 800₽ and Zilant dragon carvings. Prices are soft — vendors expect a counteroffer.
Outlet for Kazan's Nefis chemical works — the Soviet-era soap and detergent plant whose sandalwood and birch-tar bar soaps have a cult following. Bars from 60₽, gift sets around 500₽. Shelves also carry Chistopol watches and Kazan-made honey liqueur.
A working Tatar bakery in the Sloboda selling chak-chak by weight from 700₽/kg, plus gift tins with Kazan Kremlin lids and gubadiya rounds baked to order. They vacuum-seal for travel and will write a Tatar greeting on the tin lid free of charge.