Shopping in Africa
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Aimad Roi Des Babouches
Quicker to catch on to new fashion trends than many other clothing shops in the souqs, Aimad also has a much more easygoing sales pitch. Recent styles include linen tunics edged with a crenulation motif you'll recognize from Koutoubia Minaret and well-lined sabra (cactus silk) slippers without the recently-tanned scent you'll find in shops closer to the tanneries.
reviewed
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Mysha & Nito
Upstart designers bring dazzle to a quiet corner with this new red and gold boutique. The dresses for women are a tad glitzy for anyone not attending a royal wedding, but the men's deep orange-and-red striped tunics are destined to wow first dates. When the flirtation turns serious, Mysha & Nito's stunning gold hand-in-hand-of Fatima-necklace makes a princely present.
reviewed
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Bead Centre of Africa
Beads of every shape and shade are sold here. Peruse the excellent selection of how-to books and their gallery of jewellery and arty piece, including wirework baskets and ostrich-egg adornments made by the San in Namibia and Botswana. Check the website for details of the regular beading classes. They also have the large Bead Boys at the Old Biscuit Mill.
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Coin Berbere
A trio of shops can be found here at the junction of Talaa Kebira and Derb el-Horra, all owned by the Bouzidi-Idrissi family. The largest stocks seriously good antique ceramics, embroidery, doors and furniture. Across the street is a carpet shop with antique and new carpets made by various Berber tribes, and next door to that is good jewellery, mostly silver and coral.
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Clementina Ceramics
The super-colourful ceramics of Clementina van der Walt take their inspiration from the geometric patterns of Zulu and Ndebele beadwork, and traditional African basketry, pottery and textiles. One of her ranges is used as tableware at the Africa Café where you can buy pieces at the gift shop. Her main showroom is Clementina Ceramics.
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Au Petit Bazar Du Bon Acceuil
This treasure-house is worth a visit. It stocks old and modern jewellery including some seriously good Berber pieces such as fibulas and pendants, old carpets and traditional clothing, objets d'art, embroidery, ceramics, glassware and metalware. Upstairs are good pieces of wooden furniture. Women by themselves may not feel comfortable shopping here.
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Oriental Plaza
A short walk from Newtown, you’ll find the Oriental Plaza, a bustling collection of mostly Indian-owned stores selling everything from spices to cheap watches to cookware. If you need your mobile phone fixed, this is the place to come, and if you get peckish, there are plenty of stalls selling samosas, sweets and other goodies to satisfy you.
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Grand Bijouterie
Get reeled in by small silver charms, and hooked by gold chandelier earrings that tickle shoulders and deplete bank reserves. Pieces are sold by weight, so serious shoppers should know the going market rate for gold and silver and mind the scales. The fancy filigree jewellery hails from India, but you'll still spy some local jewellers diligently plying their trade.
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KwaZulu Muti Museum of Man and Science
Diagonal St, 100m east of SAB World of Beer, is a quirky shopping area that includes the KwaZulu Muti Museum of Man and Science. It’s not a museum but a shop selling the weird and wonderful, and specialising in traditional herbal medicines. You can even arrange to meet a sangoma (traditional medicine practitioner).
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Boutique Majid
You can get lost for hours in this exotic antique shop, but the real gem is Majid himself. Straight out of central casting, to include his red fez, he will regale you with stories of the Rolling Stones and other luminaries while showing you his amazing collection of Moroccan doors. ‘If you want a door, ’ he confides in his husky voice, ‘you must talk to Majid!’.
reviewed
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Aristoc
For English-language publications, this is the best place in Kampala. Its shelves are filled to capacity with books and maps on Uganda, East Africa and beyond, plus novels and educational texts. Prices are pretty reasonable for imported books, so stock up here for reading material before a long road trip. There is also a second branch in the Garden City Complex.
reviewed
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Couleurs Primaires
Why let Matisse hog all the glory for painting vacations in Morocco? Find your inspiration in the streets of Marrakesh, and your raw materials at Couleurs Primaires. If you think impasto sounds like something you'd have for dinner, you can find a teacher here too. Chat up the staff and they'll hook you up with artist studio visits and Arabic calligraphy lessons.
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Les Parfums Du Soleil
Those tantalizing Marrakshi garden scents have been blended and bottled by ethnobotanist Abderrazzak Benchaabane, whose fragrances are drawn from native flora and inspired by Berber aromatherapy principles. Soir de Marrakesh is a sultry stroll through a night-blooming garden, while Mogador brings a coastal breeze with traces of argan oil, Kaffir lime and cedar.
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Sharia al-Muski
Congested and fabulous, the market street known as Sharia al-Muski begins in the khan (where it's formally called Sharia Gawhar al-Qaid) and runs parallel to Sharia al-Azhar to Midan Ataba. It's the 'real life' counterpoint to Khan al-Khalili's touristy maze, lined with carts selling cheap shoes, plastic toys, bucket-sized bras and some truly shocking lingerie.
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Fair Trade Centre Luxor Outlet
A nonprofit shop that markets handicrafts from NGO projects throughout Egypt. It has a good selection of well-priced hand-carved wood and pottery from the nearby villages of Hejaza and Garagos, aromatic oils from Quz, beadwork from Sinai and hand-blown glass, Akhmim table linen, beading from the west bank in Luxor, recycled glass and recycled paper from Cairo.
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Herboristerie Bou Inania
This large shop sells natural soaps, vegetable oils such as argan and olive, essential oils, musk perfume, ghassoul (clay that comes in chips or powder form) which is a natural soap and exfoliant excellent for skin and hair, and incense. There's also a wide range of traditional medicines and spices. It's off Talaa Kebira, near the Bou Inania Medersa.
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Monkeybiz Head Office
Profits from Monkeybiz beadwork support the Monkeybiz Wellness Clinic for HIV/AIDS-affected women, held upstairs the same day women artists pack the street outside the head office to sell their beadwork – it’s a very lively scene. You’ll also find Monkeybiz products for sale at Carrol Boyes at the Waterfront.
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Mobaco
Not as interesting as Mix & Match in design, but inexpensive and with a great range of colours. There’s always a flattering long cotton or linen skirt available, and men can choose from a rainbow of polo shirts sporting a camel logo. There are stores throughout the city, including at the Nile Hotel and the Semiramis (both Map pp120–1).
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Bijouterie El-Yasmine
Yasmin's simplified takes on traditional motifs look (and cost) like adornments instead of dowry payments. Check out hammered silver teaspoons with striped ebony and enamel handles, lucky turquoise enamel hand of Fatima earrings, and Tuareg-inspired cocktail rings that look like hypnotist's props with concentric circles in dark wood and bright orange enamel.
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Capestorm
Gear up for your outdoor adventures, from rock climbing to long-distance bicycling, at this outdoor leisurewear shop specialising in garments made from technical fabrics and fleece. The products are all locally designed and made. You’ll also find another Waterfront outlet in the Clock Tower and a branch on Kloof St.
reviewed
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YDE
Standing for Young Designers Emporium, it’s all a bit of a jumble, but you’ll most likely find something groovy and disposable to suit among the street clothes and accessories for both sexes by South African streetwear designers. There are also branches at the Victoria Wharf in the Waterfront and Canal Walk.
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Centro de Talasoterapía
Centro de Talasoterapía is Europe's largest Thalassotherapy centre, occupying a huge complex attached to Hotel Gloria Palace, and is nothing short of breathtaking. Fabulous sea-water treatments leave your skin as smooth as a baby's bum and your mind as light as a feather. A day's dunking and use of the various appliances costs from around €50.
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Tesoruccio
If your tiny go-getter needs some traction, try these cool German-designed, Moroccan-produced, orthopaedically correct kids' shoes. Little glam rockers will go for the soft, distressed-leather combat boots, and you'll wish they had those embossed lime-green leather sneakers in your size. Kids already bored of shopping will enjoy the playground out front.
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Librairie Chatr
Where else can you learn about the medicinal plants of Morocco while waiting in line to buy postcards, office supplies and evocative little etchings of Medina doors? A reliable source for poolside paperbacks and Somerset Maugham classics in English, hiking maps, French and Berber language dictionaries, kids' picture books, and inexpensive cookery books.
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Shopping at the Souq
Not surprisingly, sand roses are commonly sold in the shops around town. Tourist versions of Saharan sandals (comfortable slip-on shoes made from camel skin) decorated with palm motifs etc are also widely available. All around the souq and surrounding streets, you'll find Berber rugs, sand roses, Touareg jewellery and a range of other pots and pieces.
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