I bought my first pair of Havaianas sandals about 3 years ago on my first trip to Brazil. I fell in love with them the first time I put them on. Since then, I have bought several more pairs that are all different colors. I wear them in the summer, fall, winter, and spring. I really think they are the best pair of sandals you can buy for their price.
I was just in Rio de Janeiro at the end of December for vacation. In Rio, you can buy Havaianas on almost every corner. You can buy them in pharmacies, grocery stores, and on the sidewalk. But there is nothing like going to the actualy Havaiana store. There are two locations in Rio: one in Ipanema and the other in Copacabana. I had the opportunity to go to the store in Ipanema.
The store is actually pretty small, but it had so many different pair of sandals. If you get about 8 people in the store it actually starts to get too crowded to walk through. It is really skinny inside the store. They have plain colored sandals, colored sandals with the Brazilian flag, world cup team sandals, and the list goes on and on. Inside the Havaiana store you can also customize your sandal. Customizing the sandals is more for girls, because you can buy little pieces of jewlery to go with your sandals. An employee then basically stamps a piece of jewlery on the sandal where the brazilian flag usually goes. The pieces of jewelery range in price from 4 reais to 15 reais.
To actually buy a pair of sandals you have to go to two different people. It doesn't make sense in my head, but what do I know? Once you have selected your sandals you have to take them to an employee that is in the middle of the store. Then that employee gets out a piece of paper, and puts a bar code of the sandal(s) you bought on the paper receipt. Then she adds up the total on the sheet, and hands you a receipt for your bill. Once you have the bill, you can then go and pay at the cash register. I am still confused at why one person can't do both jobs...?
The prices of the sandals are lower than what you can buy them for in the States depending on what type of sandal you buy. I bought 3 pairs while I was in the store, and each pair was a different price. I think that I saved about $5 on each pair. I was with two other friends while traveling through Brazil, and I think they bought a combined 12 pairs of sandals in the store! They had to be the customers of the day! I would definitely recommend stopping buy a Havaiana shop before leaving Rio!
You can find the Havaianas stores at:
Rua farme de Amoedo, 76 Ipanema
Cep:22420-020
Tel:(21)2267-7395
Rua Xavier da Silveira, 19 Copacabana
Cep:22061-010
Tel (21)2267-2418
