Modern shopping in Latvia is centered around shopping malls, which consists of various shops, restaurants and places for entertainment (e.g. cinemas).

The larger the city, the more large shopping malls it has. The largest ones are in Riga. These may be used to spend an entire day, whereas the smaller city malls are typically more limited in size.

While many malls are located in suburbs, some are also located in downtowns where they replaced old Soviet buildings.

Towns and many city districts lack malls, but they have supermarkets which are large shops that offer various goods and groceries. These belong to several major chains, most of them foreign: e.g. “Maxima” (Lithuanian), “Rimi” (Norwegian), “Prisma” (Finnish). “Narvessen” (Norwegian) is a chain of convenience stores which have longer working hours at an expense of a smaller size and somewhat higher prices.

More hectic places to shop are various bazaar-like marketplaces, often opened in mornings or just during some days. These are filled with small-scale businessmen, kiosks, and stalls.

During the festivals, makeshift new temporary marketplaces get constructed (e.g. the Christmas market in Riga).