Most of the well known international brand name items can be found in the City, normally in the shopping complexes or arcades. There are plenty of bargains to be found, it is simply a matter of spending some time exploring the city to find exactly the items that you are looking for. There are a lot of souvenir type shops, opal shops and aboriginal shops. These items are all popular with visitors to Cairns. From our experience it is always worth shopping around to compare prices and to make sure that you are getting exactly the items that you want.
Most retail traders are open seven days.
This does vary slightly but generally they are open to about 8pm. Most shops accept traveller's cheques and credit cards and some will even take foreign currencies however you should check this point before making a purchase if you intend to use a currency other than Australian dollars. Some will deliver your purchases directly to your hotel if requested. Due to the large number of international visitors to North Queensland it is not unusual to find bilingual people working in retail shops. Shops will often have signs in their front windows to advise of this feature.