You'll find handicrafts and the sophisticated porcelain manufactured in the village of Vista Alegre, 6.5km (4 miles) south. To visit the Vista Alegre factory outlet (tel. 23/432-06-00), follow the signs from Aveiro's town center. Free visits to the manufacturing facilities are conducted Monday to Friday from 9am to 12:30pm and 2 to 5pm. The factory outlet is open Tuesday to Friday 10am to noon and 2:30 to 5pm.
Another outfit with worthwhile inventories of porcelain and pottery imported directly from a nearby factory is O Buraco (no phone), at Mercado Manuel Firmino, Losa 5.
The town's most visible and best-stocked shopping venues are on the main boulevard bisecting the town, Avenida Dr. Lourenço Peixenho. The shops on this street sell virtually everything a local resident might need to pursue the good life in the Portuguese and international style.
Trendy shoppers head for the boutique-studded mall, Association of Cultural Mercado Negro, Rua Joâo Mendonça 17, which is found on the second floor of a huge town house on the main canal that runs through town. The restored building from the 1800s also doubles as a cultural center. On weekends you can enjoy live music in some of the bars here; the center is also the venue for an occasional film festival. This is the major gathering point on a Saturday afternoon for the youth of Aveiro. The chicest shop is Miyabi (tel. 23/9380-520-193), where the merchandise is constantly changing, so you won't know what will be on sale at the time of your visit. But expect sophisticated modern design in both clothing and household objects. The shop's collection of handbags, for example, is among the most daring and avant-garde in dentral Portugal. For the latest in music, as well as fado records, head for WahWah (tel. 23/966-258-775).
