The main shopping street is Chunxi Lu, a pedestrianised strip running north-south from Tianfu Square that holds everything from international brands to Chinese department stores and is at its liveliest in the evening. For something more characterful, the lanes around Kuanzhai Xiangzi and Jinli sell tea, silk, hand-painted fans and Sichuan opera masks aimed at visitors but charming nonetheless.
Local specialities worth picking up include Shu brocade and embroidery — Chengdu has been a silk centre for two thousand years — and Sichuan pepper, which is fresher and more potent here than anything you can buy at home. The Hehuachi wholesale market in the north of the city is the place to hunt for tea in bulk.