prices in rio de janeiro vary significantly from neighborhood to neighborhood, especially for food, and arts and crafts - electronics, perfumes, and other imported items are on average twice as expensive as in the united states, and about 70% more expensive than in europe.

one added benefit of paying with cash is a discount that some stores offer - asking for a price 'a vista' could get the buyer a 5% or 10% discount on the tag price.

many stores tag their items in the windows with numbers that do not reflect the actual price, but the installment price instead - for instance, they will mark a pair of shoes with a big '30' but next to the number, in smaller letters, they add 'x5' meaning 30 reals paid 5 times to total 150.  

installments plans are extremely popular in brazil, but the policy does not apply to visitors - sem juros means no interests and stores will typically give an option of limited amount of months interest-free.