Shopping in Kabul
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Chicken Street
This famed street has been a focus for Afghanistan’s tourists since the days of the Hippy Trail. All kinds of handicrafts are available here, from jewellery to carpets, ‘antique’ muskets to lapis lazuli. Good times ebb and flow with the number of international workers in the city (in Taliban-era Kabul, shop owners once chased us down the street, begging to open their shops for us), but starting prices are always high, so don’t be afraid to haggle.
reviewed
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Flower Street
Where the souvenir shops of Chicken St end, the grocery stores of Flower St begin, piled high with everything you might need from cornflakes to maple syrup. Interspersed with these there are some lovely bakeries, places selling pirated DVDs, and the flower shops that give the street its name - most likely piling the petals on to highly-decorated wedding cars.
reviewed
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A
Tarsian & Blinkley
Afghan women’s fashion doesn’t begin and end with the burqa. Tarsian & Blinkley has chic women’s clothes immaculately cut and sewn by a team of over 50 Afghan women and run by an Afghan-American designer – a business venture that scooped it a Global Social Venture prize to boot.
reviewed
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B
Zardozi
Formerly the DACAAR Sewing Centre, Zardozi is an income-generating project working with female refugees and traditional artisans. The showroom has some lovely embroidery including clothes, and some mini-burqas just the right size to slip over a bottle of booze.
reviewed
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C
Zarif & Royah
Kabul’s other fashion house (along with Tarsian & Blinkley), Zarif & Royah recently hosted Kabul’s first fashion show. Elegantly cut women’s clothes in traditional Afghan fabrics wouldn’t look out of place in Milan or Paris.
reviewed
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D
Shah M Books
Comprehensively stocked with Afghan-related titles – if they don’t have it, it probably wasn’t published. Wide range of postcards (with stamps). A mobile shop (Books & Rivers) was being launched as we went to press.
reviewed
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E
Nomad Carpet Gallery
Chicken St doesn’t have a monopoly on Kabul’s carpet market. Nomad has a wide selection of rugs, and has taken the innovative step of commissioning modern designs along with the traditional, to great effect.
reviewed
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Supreme PX
The best established of the military PX stores, every expat winds up here from time to time. There is a huge range of imported goods and food, hidden behind the most extreme security you have ever seen at a supermarket.
reviewed
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F
Afghan Gallery
This gallery sells well-made handicrafts, including embroidery, pottery and jewellery. There is also a wide selection of carpets woven to traditional designs, knotted by a local women’s carpet cooperative.
reviewed
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PARSA
A shop run by the NGO PARSA as an income-generating project for Afghan women, with plenty of tempting goodies, like scarves, purses covered with delicate needlework and other pocket-sized trinkets.
reviewed
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G
Afghan Handicrafts Centre
A government-run set of units and shops, selling everything from carpets to woodwork and jewellery. There’s less scope to haggle, but you can sometimes get to see craftsmen at their trade.
reviewed
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H
Habibi Bookstore
Another well-stocked bookshop, also sells some international magazines.
reviewed
