South Africa: shopper's
paradise
South Africans love to shop - and to sell. Large shopping centres
are to be found across the country's cities and towns, where
everything from giant chain stores to small speciality boutiques
sell all you could possible want.
These haven't forced out the smaller suburban high street shops,
or the large flea markets found in all major centres.
And when shopkeepers don't have shops, they take to the streets:
hawkers and craftspeople ply their wares at traffic intersections,
minibus taxi ranks, along major thoroughfares and on inner city
pavements, selling everything from sweets and fruit to elaborate
sculptures and home furnishings.
Even as you move from the cities into the countryside, the
selling doesn't stop. South Africa's rural areas are dotted with
farm stalls, arts and crafts markets and more.
If you're into shopping, South Africa offers so much choice your
credit card could start steaming - especially with the country's
favourable exchange rate.
Crafty buys
The first choice would be
local arts and crafts. Wire sculptures are a feature of the streets
of all our cities, but this art is best represented in the Eastern
Cape, near the town of Cradock. Here you'll find windmills up to two
metres tall made from wire and scrap, such as food tins and old
aerosol cans. These innovative artists also make aeroplanes with
working propellers.
At craft centres and roadside stalls all over the country you'll
find fantastic pots, basketware, beadwork, embroidery and carvings.
If you're after community arts and crafts, visit the Eskom Due
South Craft Route. The site provides a wide-angled view of the arts
and crafts available in the country, and is also invaluable in
providing information to off-the-beaten track places in South
Africa.
Fashion and finery
South Africa's
sophisticated clothing industry manufactures garments ranging from
high fashion to well-made safari clothing and sportswear, all of
which are reasonably priced.
Our high-fashion designers tend to towards a fusion of classical
European trends, with some subtle or not-so-subtle African touches -
and the odd, totally off-the-wall feature. So you could go home with
something unique.
There is no better place to buy the essential safari gear before
you head off into the bush. In South Africa we don't manufacture
safari clothing for the once-a-year traveller, we make it for
farmers and game rangers, who certainly would make their feelings
known if it didn't make the grade.
And, of course, we do mine a pretty big chunk of the world's
gold, diamonds and platinum, so it would be a shame not to
investigate acquiring a piece designed especially for you.
At the Premier Diamond Mine at Cullinan near Pretoria you can sit
back, sip sparkling wine and gaze out over the mine where the
soon-to-be-yours stone was born, while a designer sketches ideas for
you.
Flea markets, factory shops
If you're
not into baubles and bustiers, you'll still find plenty to buy.
Almost every town has its little craft markets, with the larger city
flea markets selling unique and often handmade clothing, crafts,
jewellery, ornaments, collectables and deli foods at cut-rate
prices.
Bruma Market in Johannesburg is reputed to be the biggest in the
southern hemisphere. It's enormous, and here you'll find all manner
of clothes, trinkets - whatever. There's also the Panorama Flea
Market in Mulbarton, and B&B's Hillfox and Rosebank Rooftop
Markets, both among the largest and oldest markets in the country.
Rosebank in Johannesburg is
also home to the African Craft Market, where entrepreneurs from all
over the continent sell imported African crafts and fabrics from an
innovatively designed indoor market.
Close by in Parkview there's Art Africa,
a legendary shop and popular tourist stop that's been selling rare
and wonderful African art and crafts for over a decade.
Cape Town's Greenmarket Square is a legend. Here you'll find
handmade clothing, shoes, jewellery and much more. Other craft and
flea markets in Cape Town include the Khayelitsha Craft Market, Pan
African Market and Waterfront Art & Craft Market.
Durban in KwaZulu-Natal has the
Church Square Market, Farepark Market and Victoria Street Market.
Then there are the speciality centres, a cross between shopping
malls and craft markets. One of these is the Oriental Plaza in
Fordsburg, Johannesburg, where for decades local Indian tradespeople
have offered real bargains on pretty much anything from hardware to
electronics to toys, although the real speciality is clothing and
textiles.
If you're after real
bargains, though, check out some of the factory shops, found all
over the country but particularly popular in Cape Town. Some of them
can be difficult to find for the uninitiated, so author Pam Black
has compiled a comprehensive list for the savvy shopper.
Shopping malls
We're a nation of
mallrats. Shopping centres are everywhere. Some are so huge they'll
give you a good day's hike from one end to the other. In
Johannesburg there's Eastgate and the newly enlarged Cresta, among
others, and in Umhlanga, just outside Durban, there's the mammoth
Gateway Shopping Centre, which offers 150 000 square metres of
shopping - that's over 37 acres.
Cape Town's Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, with over 400
stores, caters to all shopping needs in a huge range to suit any
budget or taste. Other more exclusive centres are Johannesburg's
Sandton City, Nelson Mandela Square and Hyde Park.
Got to shop? Here's a list of South Africa's major shopping
malls.
Johannesburg, Gauteng
Pretoria, Gauteng
Durban, KwaZulu-Natal
Nelspruit, Mpumalanga
Cape Town, Western Cape
