I was talking to Mom on the phone while I was in Spain, and the subject of shopping came up.  I started talking about shopping in Russia, and realized I had yet to write home about it, although I'd intended to long ago.  So here's the shopping experience in Russia.
 
First of all, there are the produkty (food) stores.  They're not really big enough to be called grocery stores.  The closest thing in America would be a country store or a convenience store, but the prices are better and they carry staples instead of junk food.  Nearly every produkty has cheese (in blocks, not slices), sausage, bread, tea, snacks to go with tea, and usually ice cream and alcohol, too.  Some even have convenience foods, such as frozen vegetables or pelmeny (meat dumplings).  Produkty are your best friend.  In my part of town, there is one on nearly every corner.
 
If you want milk, you can stop at a dairy store, but more likely there is a little dairy stand on your corner, selling yogurt, milk, sour cream (a must in every Russian kitchen), and kefir (a sour, drinkable yogurt which I think is just fabulous on muesli or granola).  I feel sorry for the girls who work in those - there's barely room to turn around, and in the winter their only protection from the cold is a glass partition over the counter that keeps out most of the wind.
 
The more interesting places to shop are the rynki, or markets.  There is one about five minutes' walk from where I live that is apparently one of the better ones in town.  There are dozens of vendors, selling meat, cheese, fresh fruit and vegetables, eggs, bread, and other foods, as well as cosmetics and soap.  In the center is a covered tent with booths selling clothes, dishes, shower heads, and pretty much everything else.  But what makes this market cool is that the large building towards the back houses vendors carrying every fruit, vegetable, dried spice, or flavor of honey you could possibly want.  It smells fabulous and the colors of all those together is every more beautiful.
 
Just across the street are two small chain discount stores, Dixie and Yuzhnyi Dvor (Southern Courtyard), which sell, respectively, discount groceries and discount household goods.  However, like discount stores in America, there's no telling what they'll have that week, although certain staples you can usually count on.
 
Around most markets and metro stations are little old ladies selling hand-knit woolen socks, stocking caps (which are actually really cute), scarves, sunflower seeds, shredded cabbage and carrots (saves a bit of time if you're running late and have to cook dinner), and sometimes pantyhose.  Their business is technically illegal, because it's unregistered, so every once in a while a mean cop comes along and chases them off, and they hang out somewhere else for a little while.  Also around most markets tend to be the Russian version of a garage sale (tag sale for you east-coasters): people with a blanket spread out on the ground selling everything from old books to lamps to shoes.  Also near metro stations tend to be a lot of food vendors selling pigs-in-a-blanket (and other questionable meat products and fried foods) and ice cream.
 
There are also markets further away from the center that sell a lot of highly-questionable, most likely illegal goods, like CD's and DVD's for ridiculously low prices.  Some apparently traffic in people, too, which is a huge problem in Russia, although I've never witnessed this.
 
Unfortunately, there is nothing like a drugstore in Russia, so the things you would buy at a drugstore in America are divided up among several shops: apteka (pharmacy), parfyumeriya (perfumery - often actually sells shampoo, razors, etc.), kosmetika (make-up), and tovary dlya ofica (office-supply store).
 
Along Bolshoi Prospekt, near my house, are a lot of boutiques and clothing shops, many selling western brands of clothes which cost way too much.  There's even a Hallmark (with cards in Russian and English!) on this street.  Several bookshops are located near my place, many of which also sell a limited amount of office supplies.  The biggest bookstore in town is on Nevsky Prospekt, and it is about the size of a Borders or a Barnes & Noble in Oklahoma.  At the smaller bookstores and also at smaller CD and DVD shops, there are often several employees who simply stand around (often about six inches from a customer) to ensure you don't try to swipe things, although they often offer to help you find things, too.  I think this is great, because Russian stores are generally pretty disorganized.  Even in well-organized American stores it can be hard to find things, and finding an actual employee? - forget it.
 
There aren't too many bigger stores in St. Petersburg like you would find in most American towns - not really department stores or big anchor stores, and certainly nothing like a Wal-Mart.  There's a shopping center downtown called the Passazh that's sort of like a mall, but it's really small and really expensive.  Just down the street is Gostinny Dvor, a former royal residence that is now a huge shopping center.  It's very easy to get lost among the many small shops, but you're more likely to find things like good-quality luggage and clothes there, although at high prices. Supposedly there's a real American-style shopping mall, complete with a food court, on the mainland near Justin's place, but I haven't seen it.
 
Most stores in Russia have everything behind counters and glass cases, and you have to ask an employee to get it down for you, and they only hand it to you after you pay.  In some cases, one employee gets things down from the shelf and writes you a check which you take to the cashier, and after you pay, you take the receipt back to the first employee to pick up your stuff, and then the employee tears the receipt so you can't get a second load for free.  Some of the larger produkty stores have two or three cash registers, and you have to order and pay for all of your stuff separately.  And if the employee working the section of the store you need something from is on smoke break or talking on her cell phone, and the other employees are in a bad mood, you just have to wait for her to get back before you can even order.
 
Shop-girls (and it's almost always females working these types of jobs) tend to be grumpy people.  They're not paid well, their job is not comfortable, and people are rude to them.  So they tend to be rude back, although if you're polite they can be really helpful, often out of simply gratefulness.  They rarely smile, and the only place I ever hear "spasibo za pokupku" (thanks for you purchase) are at the Teremok bliny stands and at IKEA (a massive Swedish home-furnishings store that just opened on the outskirts of town).
 
There is also a tendency to want to demonstrate salesmanship skills, I think, or maybe it's just something to do to pass the time in the slower stores, such as the ones that sell consumer goods.  My second or third week here I decided I just had to have a hairdryer (which was a smart move), so I went to a Khoztovary (household goods) store.  The girl tried to get me to buy the most expensive one, but I told her something a bit cheaper would be better, since I'm a student.  I picked one out that I liked and started to get out my money to pay.  But she went ahead and explained all the different features of it to me: two speeds, hot or cold air, the little thing on the end that snaps off, and even went so far as to plug it in to prove to me that it worked.  It would never have occurred to me that I might buy a hairdryer, go home, plug it in, and then nothing happen, but maybe that's a problem here.  Anyway, I paid, and then she told me about the warrantee and put everything in a little plastic pouch for me.
 
A similar thing happened when I wanted to buy a purse.  I had the money out, ready to pay, and the girl started demonstrating to me that the straps were strong, good quality, there were inside pockets, etc., and then encouraged me to see how I looked carrying it and pointed to the floor-lenth mirror on the other side of the shop.
 
Every time you buy anything, they tear the receipt.  The original idea behind this was that in the time you're waiting for whatever you bought (while they make the coffee, get the stuff down from the shelf, etc.) you won't order a second set from another employee with the same receipt, or else come back later and do the same thing.  The weird thing about it is, most people tear the receipt as they're handing it to you, not as they're giving you your stuff, so there's really no point to it at all.  I was here two months before I figured out why all the employees here tear the receipts, because hardly anyone does it the right way.  There are also receipt cans by most cash registers so customers won't litter up the floor, and I've actually seen employees tear the receipt and immediately throw it in the can rather than hand it to the customer.
 
Not all stores give out plastic shopping bags for free - some charge a ruble or two for the bag, some only give them if you bought a lot of stuff, and some just don't have them at all.  This leads to massive bag hoarding in most households, because plastic sacks are necessary for just about every minute of your day.  (1) Many cloakrooms will only take hats, scarves, mittens, etc., if they're in a plastic sack, and no one wants to carry those around all day, so you have to have a sack on you for that.  (2) It's more convenient to carry your lunch and anything else in a plastic shopping bag than just about any other means, because the bag is relatively durable and will also keep everything dry.  If you have a lot of stuff to carry, it's best to use two or three sacks for weight distribution.  You wouldn't want your sack to rip on the street.  (3) Since stores don't give out bags, you have to have at least one on you for picking up dinner on the way home.  (4) They're also a good size for trash bags, which most people here don't buy, partially, I'm sure, because produkty stores don't carry them.
 
An office supply chain here realized the value of the plastic sack, and gives them out for free.  Even if you only buy ten rubles worth of stuff, or just a pen, they make you take a sack - and it's one of the sturdier ones, too.  It took me a while to figure this out, but then I noticed on the metro one day that at least four other people (besides me) had a sack from this store.  It's really cheap advertising.  And I'm sure there are also some people who choose this store over other office-supply stores simply for the free sack.