Where to Shop in Podgorica

One of my favourite things about Podgorica is the lack of big chains and prevalence of individually-owned stores everywhere. From the dozens of little clothing and shoe boutiques to the big fruit and vegetable markets, it’s always interesting to explore.

Buying Food

Small supermarkets are everywhere. Most apartments I’ve lived in here have had two or three in a hundred-metre radius. The supermarket chains are Voli (a Montenegrin company), Aroma and Idea, and they all stock food to local Montenegrin taste, which is to me a lot of meat, dairy, sauces and bread products plus more Italian flavours.

International foods are available in some of the bigger supermarkets like the Super Voli in City Kvart but the range is limited to not much more than tortillas, soy sauce and chilli sauce. (Be prepared to miss Asian food a lot in the Balkans).

The good news is the local produce is excellent. There are two ‘green markets’ (zelena pijaca) in Podgorica with small stalls selling an array of mostly local fruits, vegetables, flowers, cheeses, olives, nuts and rakijas. Gintaš is the biggest, cheapest and most well-known, in a building next to Mall of Montenegro. The smaller market is on the lower level of Bazar. 

All the supermarkets also sell fruit and vegetables but the quality can be pretty dismal at the small local supermarkets compared to the green markets.

Buying Clothes and Shoes

Big Fashion (formerly known as ‘Delta’) is the biggest and newest mall to the south-west of the city. It has two levels and a cinema, European clothing chains stores, sprawling cafes and a kids play area.  As it’s fully air/conditioned and heated it’s extremely popular in bad weather.

Clothes stores include Zara, Pull and Bear, and Mango with fast fashion style clothing. There are small shoe stores but none of the shoe warehouses you can find in bigger cities (better go to Belgrade for those).

Of much more interest are the small boutiques (the sign will say Butik) dotted all over town and especially in the centre around Ulice Slobode, Ulice Vućedolska, and the pedestrian street of Hercegovačka.  These are small, independent stores that each have an individual range of clothing, often bought back from Italy by the store owner. 

Buying Homewares

The biggest store in the centre is Okov, upstairs in the Bazar shopping centre. It’s an everything store with small appliances, kitchenware, bathroom stuff, garden items, hardware for fitting out bathrooms, lawn equipment, etc. 

Slightly outside town is Jysk, basically a local Ikea that sells furniture and homewares. 

South of Delta on the road to Cetinje is Namos, a local furniture store (where every Airbnb owner I’ve ever stayed in Podgorica appears to purchase their furniture). 

Buying Electronics

Tehnomax is the local chain of electronics and electrical goods, selling everything from computers to vacuum cleaners. 

There are a couple of small ones in the centre of town, plus a huge American-style mega store on the way to the airport. My favourite part is the huge cafe at the front of the store, as no Montenegrin destination is complete with a stop in a cafe.

There’s also an electronics store in the south of town called Multicom, that’s the best for computer gear.

I hope this helps explain all you need to know about where to shop in Podgorica!