Polvos Azules: a big popular market, and the right habits for shopping there

What Polvos Azules is

The shopping centre was born in June 1981, when the Municipality of Lima, then led by Eduardo Orrego, grouped street vendors together on a plot of land near the Government Palace. After a fire in 1993, it moved around 1997 to its current location, a former textile factory in the district of La Victoria, along the Paseo de la República expressway. It has about two thousand shops on several levels.

It mainly sells clothes, shoes, toys, household appliances, crafts and electronics, at prices lower than those of shopping malls. The place was long known for selling copies of films and counterfeit products, to the point of appearing on the United States Trade Representative’s watch list until 2022, the year it was removed. That says nothing about any particular shop: many sell ordinary products, imported or made in Peru. But it is a reason to check what you are buying.

Who it suits, for what

Counterfeit, parallel import, refurbished: three different things

• A counterfeit imitates a brand without authorisation. It may be of poor quality, or even dangerous (chargers, batteries), and having it in your possession may cause problems on your return to Europe.
• A parallel import is a genuine branded product, imported outside the manufacturer’s official channel: often without a local warranty, sometimes with a charger or instructions from another country.
• A refurbished or second-hand device has already been used: its condition and battery need to be checked, and its origin (not stolen) too.

Buying a phone: the IMEI rule

The IMEI is the number that identifies a phone. According to OSIPTEL, the telecommunications authority, a phone bought abroad since 22 April 2024 and used with a line from a Peruvian operator (SIM card or eSIM) must be registered: the person goes to their operator, which validates the IMEI, and signs a declaration on the legal origin of the device. Phones already in service before that date were automatically added to the list of valid devices.

For a traveller, the practical rule is simple:

• with a line from a foreign operator on roaming (your Swiss SIM, or a foreign eSIM), no procedure is required;
• with a line from a Peruvian operator, on a physical card or as an eSIM, your phone must be registered with the operator that sells you the line;
• a phone bought in Peru must be on the list of valid devices: ask the seller for an invoice or a receipt that mentions the IMEI, and check that the device works with a SIM before leaving the shop.

The details of SIMs, eSIMs and plans are in Money, phone and connectivity.

The purchase record to keep on your phone

Before paying for a device, write down: the exact brand and model, the IMEI (printed on the box and displayed by dialling *#06#), the price and what it includes (charger, cable), the written warranty and its length, the name and number of the shop, and the receipt. A shop that gives no proof of purchase will not allow you to make any complaint: Indecopi points out the right to proof of payment and the obligation for shops to keep a libro de reclamaciones.

Getting there

The shopping centre is in the district of La Victoria, alongside the Paseo de la República expressway, south of the historic centre and near the National Stadium. Several Metropolitano stations are a few minutes’ walk away. Come by day, on a weekday, with few valuables: the crowds are as dense as in all the city’s big markets.