State Department Store: Ulaanbaatar Travel Guide (4.3★)

The big store on Peace Avenue

Locals rarely use the official name. Mongolians call it Ikh Delguur, “the big store,” and taxi drivers know it by that name. It stands on Peace Avenue (Enkh Taivny Örgön Chölöö), the main road running east to west through central Ulaanbaatar, in the Chingeltei district.

It’s a big, multi-floor department store with clothing, electronics, accessories, homewares and food all under one roof. Visitors come for two things in particular: the souvenir and cashmere floor, and a supermarket stocked with what people in Ulaanbaatar actually buy.

Floor by floor

The layout runs from everyday shopping up to gifts. Expect escalators, branded concessions and a lot of people going about their errands.

• The food level: a full supermarket with Mongolian dairy, dried curd (aaruul), local vodka, chocolate and packaged snacks you won’t see back home.
• Middle floors: clothing, shoes, accessories, electronics and homewares. Good for replacing a charger or buying a warmer layer before a trip to the steppe.
• The souvenir and cashmere floor: felt slippers, felt toys, deels (the traditional robe), small paintings, chess sets and knitwear from Mongolian cashmere brands.
• Food options: quick meals and snacks inside the building if you need a break between floors.

Signs are mostly in Mongolian Cyrillic. The upper floors are easy to browse by eye, though, and the staff on the souvenir floor are used to foreign shoppers.

Buying cashmere and souvenirs

This floor is the main reason travellers come. Everything is in one place with marked prices, so you get a feel for quality before taking on the markets.

Feel the knit and read the label. Mongolian cashmere from the big domestic brands is the safe buy. Felt items make light gifts that pack flat. Prices are on the tags and on the shelf labels, and there’s no bargaining here, unlike the stalls at Narantuul.

Shopping at Ikh Delguur

A few habits will make the visit smoother.

• Pay by card or in tögrög. Card terminals are standard at the tills. Keep a little cash for small kiosks.
• Don’t haggle. It’s a fixed-price store. Save your bargaining for the open markets.
• Expect bag checks or lockers at the supermarket entrance, as in many Mongolian shops. Follow what the people ahead of you do.
• Say the name. If you’re taking a taxi or asking directions, “Ikh Delguur” works better than the English name.
• Time it right. It’s calmest between 9am and 12pm on weekdays, when the aisles are clear and the souvenir floor is quiet. Weekends from 4pm to 8pm are the time to avoid: that’s the peak, with queues at the tills and full escalators.

Opening hours are long. At the moment it’s open 9am–10pm Monday to Saturday and closes an hour earlier on Sunday, at 9pm. That makes it an easy stop after a day of sightseeing. Still, an evening on a weekday will be calmer than a Saturday afternoon.

Getting there and what’s nearby

Walking is usually the quickest option. Central Ulaanbaatar’s traffic is notoriously slow at rush hour, and the store sits on Peace Avenue, west of Sükhbaatar Square. You can get there on foot from most central hotels.

Plenty of other sights are close by:

• Beatles Square: the small plaza with a Beatles monument, right by the store, where young people hang out in the evenings.
• Sükhbaatar Square: the government square with the Chinggis Khaan statue, a short walk east along Peace Avenue.
• Zanabazar Fine Arts Museum: Buddhist art and sculpture, a few blocks away.
• Gandan Monastery: farther west, a longer walk or a short taxi ride.

Many city buses run along Peace Avenue. If you’re not used to the routes, a taxi or a ride-hailing app is easier.

How long to stay

Give it an hour for a focused visit. That’s enough to go through the souvenir floor and fill a basket in the supermarket.

Allow two hours if you’re shopping seriously for cashmere or want to compare brands across floors. Pair it with Sükhbaatar Square and the Beatles monument and you have a relaxed half day in the centre. That works well on your first day in the city or the day before an early flight home.