Vientiane Shopping

Art, Crafts and Antiques

Samsenthai, Panggkam and Setthathirat streets are the places to shop for the most varied choice and prices for crafts, antiques and art. Here, hill-tribe and Thai Tribal crafts are plentiful. Be sure to check out Kanchana Boutique on Chanta Khumman Street where there's an extensive range of Laos silk and crafts. The owner of T’Shop Lai Galerie is dedicated to providing fair trade products for those interested in both modern and traditional art in a range of media, furniture and interesting handicrafts.

Books

The majority of books that are found in Vientiane are second-hand French and English novels, maps, travel guides and the occasional Japanese comic book. Here are the names of a few bookstores around Vientiane: Lao Plaza Hotel Book Shop, Kosila Bookshop 1 & 2, Bookshop Sapasin Tha.

Elegant Boutique

This beautiful little boutique sells mainly fashion clothing and Lao crafts. It is run by a young Laotian designer, who mixes silk and cotton fabrics from Laos with Western fashion. Elegant Boutique offers a good range of items for both men and women such as shirts, pants, suits, dresses, tops, tunics and skirts.

Their products come in all sizes (including plus sizes) as well as made-to-measure clothing. Known for its high quality and delicate designs, hill tribe silver jewelry is probably one of the most sought-after local crafts at the shop.

Lao Fine Art Handicrafts Jewellery

Lao Fine Art Handicrafts Jewellery offers creative jewels mixing wood, coconut wood and silver. Shoppers will also find many silver items in beautiful and unique traditional Lao designs made mainly of 92.5% silver.

Markets in Vientiane

The Morning Market is considered the hub of local commerce, where every corner turned promises a new surprise. The main bus station, post office, government offices and banks are located near by, making it in actual fact the true center of Vientiane. A shopper’s paradise, the market is Laos interpretation of Western mall culture, everything from freshly slaughtered pigs to handicrafts from provinces around the country.

Talat Khua Din is just east of the Morning Market and offers everything from tobacco to flowers. North of the town centre in Ban Thong Khan Kham is Talat Thong Khan Kham, an all day market and one of the biggest in Vientiane selling a vast amount of crafts and fresh produce.

Oot Ni Gallery

Oot Ni Gallery mainly specialises in antiques and paintings and houses a nice collection of antiques from Laos and Southeast Asia. They also feature vintage handicraft, sculpture and stone products. Oot Ni Gallery is located immediately after the famous Xayoh Bar & Grill on Samsenthai Street.

Saoban Village Handcrafts

Saoban Village Handcrafts, located in Vientiane, is not just an ordinary Laos souvenir outlet. If your shopping list includes silk and cotton products as well as silver jewellery and bamboo wares, this is the place to visit. The displayed goods are some of the best products in the country crafted by top artisans from many small teams made up from well over 300 skillful villagers across five provinces of Laos.

The project was started by Sombath Somphone, a scholar and community developer who was awarded the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 2005 (the award is often called Asia’s Nobel Prize.) He managed to preserve and promote Lao village crafts and also to set up a sample of how to work under the principles of fair trade in order to create employment opportunities for villagers, especially women, and reduce poverty. You’ll be happy to learn that the money you spend here goes directly to grassroots.

Textiles

The hub of textile dealers in downtown Vientiane is Nokeo Khumman Street. Sandra Yuck offers a unique shopping experience in Vientiane; her private studio, Caruso, on Fa Ngum Road, carries a line of ebony wooden boxes, trays, and accessories, as well as unique Laos bedspreads and other home furnishings. The famous American weaver and founder of Laos Textiles, Carol Cassidy, also has her office in the area.

Cassidy and her team are renowned for producing intricate wall hangings, scarves and sinhs – traditional Laos sarongs. Both Cassidy and Yuck are considered pivotal in the revival of this ancient art form and remain true to the pain-staking craftsmanship demanded during production, making each purchase all the more unique (and costly).