2nd Baku Shopping Festival Set To Kick Off Sunday

Baku will once more this year be the epicenter in the Caspian region for shopaholics, as it again welcomes the month-long Baku Shopping Festival, from October 15 – November 15.

The consumer extravaganza is open to residents and tourists alike, and features a Value Added Tax (VAT) discount for customers at more than 400 stores across the city, including those selling clothing, electronics, household appliances, perfume and cosmetics. Customers could get back the 18 percent VAT usually charged on most consumer goods sold in Azerbaijan for purchases made over 100 AZN (USD $59).

The first edition of the festival was held from April 10 – May 10 this year and was a way to promote Baku, and Azerbaijan overall, as a tourist destination that is consumer-friendly. It attracted upwards of 200,000 visitors to the country, according to estimations made by Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Tourism and Culture.

“According to all statistical data, we can say that [the first] Baku Shopping Festival was welcomed warmly among the population,” Rashad Aliyev, a media specialist at the Azerbaijan Convention Bureau, which is responsible for organizing the festival, told Caspian News. “We had an increased sales turnover, and the customer influx to multiple Baku Shopping events showed it worked very well.”

International brands available from retailers across the city include Armani, L.K Bennett, Paris Gallery, Karen Millen, Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Chloe, Dolce & Gabbana, Fendi, Givenchy, Hugo Boss, Jimmy Choo, Ralph Lauren, Roberto Cavalli and Salvatore Ferragamo.

“This time customers will also be able to benefit from affordable discounts and VAT reimbursement at furniture shops and pharmacies,” Aliyev said. “Some big supermarkets in the capital will also offer discounts to buyers as festival participants.”

“We’re trying to turn the festival into one of the most successful projects in Azerbaijan and organize it twice a year,” he added.

The number of tourists visiting Azerbaijan during the first eight months of 2017 exceeded 1.8 million, and they spent nearly $765 million over the same period, according to ministry data. The average stay of a tourist in Azerbaijan is between five and seven days, with about half of that time spent in Baku. A single tourist spends somewhere between $700 and $1,000 during their trip.

In September, the government launched a new visa issuing procedure, dubbed the “urgent e-Visa option” that would help expedite applications and grant electronic visas within approximately three hours.

Happening alongside the Baku Shopping Festival is the “Modernism and Fashion” being held at the Heydar Aliyev Center. The exhibition, which opened on October 6, showcases 100 pieces of clothing and 350 accessory sets from the 1960’s, borrowed from the Lithuania-based Alexander Vasilyev Foundation’s unique collection, considered one of the most important historical, private collections of fashion. The exhibition runs until April 5, 2018.