Measurements of the power consumption and mean and turbulent velocities in the wall jet of a stirred vessel flow, powered by a hyperboloid impeller, were carried out. The fluids were aqueous solutions of tylose, CMC and xanthan gum (XG), at weight concentrations ranging from 0.1% to 0.6%, which exhibited varying degrees of shear-thinning and viscoelasticity. The hyperboloid impeller parameter k of Metzner and Otto (1957) was found to be equal to 27.2 +/- 4. In the Reynolds number range of 10(3) to 3 x 10(4) the mixing power was reduced for all non-Newtonian fluids, but never by more than 13%. The flows of the 0.2% CMC and 0.2% XG solutions were found to be less turbulent than those of water, especially for the latter fluid where a reduction in axial rms in excess of 50% was found in the wall jet. This was attributed to elasticity effects and especially to the high zero shear viscosity of the latter fluid.