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Travel shopping in Mumbai is bipolar - just like its culture
- air-conditioned and hassle free or street-market
and lots of fun.
Most
of the Handicrafts emporia and bazaars are located in
the downtown area. Dont forget to check out Avante, opposite Regal Cinema, for its collection of souveniers at down to earth prices. Crawford Market, famous for flowers, fruits, meat and fish is a fascinating place to visit.
The main areas for
getting good clothes are around Colaba
Causeway and Fashion Street,
which stretches along the Cross and Azad Maidans.You'll
get wonderful faux jewelry here in brass, terracotta
and silver for no more than US$ 2 apiece. Barring
the Government emporia or some of the elegant
boutiques, nobody will raise an icy eyebrow
if you haggle.
Breach Candy and Kemps Corner,
down the hill from the Hanging Gardens are also
popular for their trendy clothes. Wonderful
stuff for summer wear, and you can also pick
up sequined and embroidered silk blouses and
skirts to wear in the evenings.
Chor Bazaar (Thieves Market) is
antiquelover's paradise if you like to gamble.
Look for anything from brass door knobs to silver
"hookaas". For the watchful spender
the shopping arcades in five-star hotels like
the Oberoi and the Taj Mahal are a treasure
trove selling authentic antiques, silks and
designer wear.
(Keep in mind that the Government of India
does not allow antique over 100 years old to
be exported out of the country. If you're in
any doubt, the Archeological Survey of India
can be of assistance.)
Local traders on Mutton Street,
who have been selling at this flea market for
generations, stock an eclectic choice of goods
ranging from teak and rosewood furniture to
crockery, glassware, porcelain, paintings, beads,
lamps, masks - and anything else you can think
of.
Just a TIP : Bargaining is the norm here !
Zaveri Bazaar (Jewellery Market)
is famous for its diamond, gold and silver jewellery.
Scores of jewellers line the narrow streets
in Mumbai's oldest bullion market.
Besides the markets, Mumbai offers great departmental
stores for the tourist in a hurry. Three mentionable
places to shop in Mumbai are Eternia
at Breach Candy, Shopper's Stop
on S.V. Road in Andheri Chembur and Mulund and
Crossroads near the Haji Ali Durgah
at Tardeo.
Eternia is indeed an international shopping
experience for women - apart from Premsons Bazaar,
one of the trendiest addresses in Mumbai. Shopper's
Stop has burgeoned into a 75,000 square feet
shopping experience, covering three floors.
It has every thing that women, men and children
could ask for. Crossraods, perhaps the biggest
departmental store in mumbai offers a wide range
of international brands to chose from.
Stick-on bindis, Devnagri script tatoos, the
biggest shoe store in Asia (The Loft) or the
cheapest leather market (Dharavi)...Mumbai has
it all.
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