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Shopping
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With its vast availability of goods, Johannesburg is a magnet for consumers from all over the subcontinent, who zoom down the highways to stock up before heading back the same day. For visitors, the city is the best place in South Africa to find
arts and crafts
, with excellent flea markets and galleries offering a plethora of goods, some of a very high quality. As the queen of
mall culture
, Johannesburg is also home to over twenty major malls (daily 8am-6pm), most of which are depressingly anonymous. A handful, however (listed below), are so plush and enormous that they merit a visit in their own right.
MALLS Hyde Park Mall Jan Smuts Avenue, Hyde Park. A trendy and upmarket mall, awash with swanky cafAŠs and haute couture outlets. The excellent Exclusive Books chain has a good branch here. Randburg Waterfront Republic Road, Randburg. Built around an artificial lake, this popular if slightly downmarket centre offers restaurants, a flea market and a cinema alongside the clothes shops and chain stores. Mall of Rosebank On the corner of Baker and Cradock streets, Rosebank. One of the city's nicest malls, with exclusive boutiques, craft shops and - unusually - outdoor cafAŠs, restaurants and walkways. Sandton City Shopping Centre On the corner of Sandton Drive and Rivonia Road, Sandton. Linked to the seriously opulent Sandton Square mall, this enormous mall is worth a visit for its sheer size and mind-boggling abundance of shops, cinemas and African art galleries; it also has some good bookshops. CRAFT SHOPS AND MARKETS Art Africa 62 Tyrone Ave, Parkview tel 011 486 2052. A good selection of innovative and more familiar crafts, many ingeniously created out of recycled material. Bright House Bamboo Centre, on the corner of 9th Street and Rustenburg Road tel 011 726 5657. Inspiringly stylish contemporary interior design shop, with an impressive selection of South African products, most items made locally yet with very little sign of "ethnic" influences. Bruma Lake Flea Market Bruma Lake. A huge, permanent market of mostly African crafts and souvenirs: mainstream and fairly cheap. M2 Highway CBD. An informal market stretching underneath this major artery, a few blocks south of Anderson Street. Most stalls specialize in umuthi medicine, but there are plenty of local crafts as well. Market Africa Newtown. The city's liveliest flea market, next to the Market Theatre; rifle through colourful blankets from Mali, Congolese masks and statues, and more. Sat 9am-4pm. Michael Mount Organic Market Culross Road, off Main Road, Bryanston tel 011 706 3671. Right-on but interesting collection of stalls selling lovely organic food, unusual home crafts and handmade clothes. Thurs & Sat mornings. Rosebank Rooftop Market Mall of Rosebank, 50 Bath Ave, Rosebank. An entertaining place with an impressive array of cottage-industry crafts and clothes. Sun 9am-5pm. Rural Craft Shop 42E, Mutual Gardens, Rosebank tel 011 788 5821. A non-profit-making city outlet for various craft co-operatives around South Africa - a refreshing alternative to hard-sell pavement hawkers. Mon-Fri 10am-4pm, Sat 9am-1pm. Visual Arts Gallery 67 4th Ave, Melville tel 011 482 2370. A fine contemporary gallery in a bright modern house in the heart of Melville. BOOKSHOPS Books Galore Shop 2B on Main Road, Melville (tel 011 726 6502) and 66 Tyrone Ave, Parkview (tel 011 486 4198). These friendly shops offer a good selection of secondhand books. Exclusive Books South Africa's biggest and best bookshop chain, with all the latest titles. There are branches in many malls, but the best shops are in: Hyde Park Corner, Jan Smuts Avenue (tel 011 325 4298); Sandton Square (tel 011 748 5416); Killarney Mall, Houghton (tel 011 646 0931); and The Mall of Rosebank (tel 011 447 3028). Out of Print 78 4th Avenue, Melville tel 011 482 6516. A great little antiquarian and secondhand bookseller, open till 9pm every day of the week, with a tiny internet cafAŠ at the back of the shop. MUSIC SHOPS Johannesburg is a good place to pick up a wide range of African music ; if you really want to go exploring, the CBD (especially) has dozens of small shops selling cassettes of South African and American sounds. The Musica chain of shops is the most prevalent, and concentrates on soul and rock import CDs, with small selections of local music. Bizarre Generation On the corner of Rockey and Raymond streets, Yeoville. The best rave music shop in Johannesburg. Cadence Tropical Calton Centre, CBD tel 011 331 3100. South Africa's finest stockist of Central and West African music, and the place to find out about clubs currently playing these sounds. CD Wherehouse , Mutual Square, Rosebank and Sandton City. Best selection of CDs in Johannesburg, with all the latest local and international sounds, good deals and helpful staff.
Kohinoor
54 Market St, CBD. Excellent vinyl selection, as well as a range of tapes and CDs. The focus is on jazz, but you'll find all manner of South African styles here, ranging from gospel to
maskanda
and
mbaqanga
. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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South Africa,
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