Shop Talk: Store Vocabulary in Spanish

If you’re planning on traveling or living abroad, one of your top concerns must be getting around town. While cell phones have made it infinitely easier to figure out how to navigate in other countries, it’s still important to know basic terms. Shopping, dining and other fun activities tend to use lots of store vocabulary, so we’ll teach you some of the most important and common ones here.

The ending –ería

Have you seen the term taquería for a taco stand or dulcería for a candy store? Believe it or not, the ending –ería is a really good indicator that it’s a store. If you can put together the different parts of a word, you can identify what they sell! For example, dulcería combines the words dulce meaning sweet and –ería meaning store, so a dulcería is a candy store! Not all of them are that simple, but you’ll notice that pattern.

Store vocabulary in Spanish

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Let’s start with the –ería words now that we know they mean stores. Can you figure out what type of store each one is by taking apart the words? Try it out!

• Boletería– ticket office
• Cafetería– coffee shop
• Carnicería- butcher shop
• Cervecería- brewery
• Confitería / dulcería- candy store
• Ferretería- hardware store **This one is tricky! It comes from an old word for iron!
• Floristería- flower shop
• Heladería- ice cream shop
• Juguetería- toy store
• Liberería- book store
• Panadería– bakery
• Peluquería– Barber shop
• Pescadería- seafood store
• Ropavejería- used clothing store
• Verdurería– produce store
• Zapatería- shoe store

Tricky store words

Some store words don’t end in –ería but are still very useful to know. Here are a few.

1. Supermercado– supermarket
2. Tienda- store, shop
3. Tiendita- convenience store
4. El centro comercial- shopping mall
5. Gasolinera- gas station

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Odds are, you’ll see some of these places in the first 5 minutes in a Spanish-speaking country. If you remember the little trick with the –ería endings, you’ll be in great shape!