Department Store shopping in Asia
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A
Isetan
In addition to its stunning food hall in the basement, Isetan boasts an entire separate building for men’s fashions in addition to several floors of homewares and ladies’ designer goods. Check out the store’s I-club, a free service that provides English-speaking staff for visiting shoppers. The membership desk for this service is located on the 6th floor near the entrance to the Isetan Men’s building.
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B
Central Airport Plaza
Anchored by a Robinson department store and, compared to Kad Suan Kaew, this mall is more upmarket with more international brands and a more affluent clientele. The Northern Village complex on the 2nd floor sells high-quality souvenirs with set prices. Silks and ready-made clothes are good buys.
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C
Sogo
This Japanese-owned store, in the hub of Causeway Bay, has 12 well-organised floors and more than 37,000 sq metres of retail space. The range is mind-boggling: over 20 brands of ties just for starters. Eclectic departments include the Barbie Counter and the Character’s Shop.
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D
Handloom House
This is a huge department store thronged with locals. Alongside some questionable clothes are mountains of fixed-price bandhani, silk saris and woollen shawls.
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E
Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store
Most older locals remember when this housed a prison and an execution room, not an upscale mall.
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F
Yue Hwa Chinese Products Emporium
This enormous place, with seven floors of ceramics, furniture, souvenirs and clothing, has absolutely everything the souvenir-hunting tourist could possibly want, as well as bolts of silk, herbs, clothes, porcelain, luggage, umbrellas and kitchenware. There’s also a branch in Tsim Sha Tsui on Kowloon Park Dr that’s entered from Peking Rd.
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G
Takashimaya Shopping Centre
Voted Singapore's favourite one-stop shopping mall, Takashimaya has all the usual men's, women's, food and household departments, as well as a fitness centre (home to Singapore's largest swimming pool) and the giant Kinokuniya bookstore. The basement is great for a bite - the Japanese food here is especially good.
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H
Saigon Centre
If you're pressed for time, several shopping centres are great one-stop destinations, including the shiny, modern Saigon Centre It's a great place to browse for electronics, clothing and handicrafts.
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I
Wing On
‘Forever Peaceful’ is notable for being locally owned. It carries a range of goods but is especially well known for inexpensive electronics and household appliances.
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J
Fujii Daimaru Department Store
Major department store.
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K
State Department Store
Known as ikh delguur or 'big shop', the State Department Store is virtually a tourist attraction in itself, with the best products from around the city squeezed into one building.
The 1st floor has a supermarket in the back. The 2nd floor has outlets for clothing, cashmere and leather goods. The 3rd floor has electronics, a Mobicom shop, CDs, books, sports equipment, camping and fishing gear. The 5th floor has a great collection of souvenirs, traditional clothing, maps and books about Mongolia.
Foreign-exchange counters are found on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th floors, with cash only changed. The store also sells phone and internet cards.
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L
Zhaojia Chaowai Market
This huge four-storey warehouse is packed to the gills with traditional Chinese furniture - from opium beds to barrel stools to ornately carved side tables and carpets. Prices are reasonable, but remember to factor in shipping costs (which vendors can arrange). Many stallholders say their wares are genuine Ming or Qing items, but take it all with a pinch of yán (salt). The 4th floor contains ceramics and other antiques.
The stalls get fancier the higher the floor, and prices rise accordingly. The market is located on the southern part of Dongsanhuan Nanlu at Panjiaqiao, a short distance north of Beijing Curio City.
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M
TsUM
Visit this large central department store, composed of dozens of small shops, for the experience as well as to buy. It deals mainly in electronic goods, clothes, cosmetics, glass, china and gifts, and prices are reasonable.
On the ground floor you'll find a bigger variety of mobile phones than you've ever seen in one place, and the top floor has the best range of kitsch souvenirs and gifts in the country - ornamental swords and horse whips, fur and felt hats, traditional jewellery and miniature yurts, camels and Golden Men.
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N
Matsuya
Ginza is the poshest shopping district in Tokyo. The quintessential Ginza experience is a department store; Mitsukoshi has pride of place, but Matsuya is a long-standing favourites, too. Tucked in between some of the more imposing facades are more simple pleasures such as fine papers and shelves stacked full of ingenious toys. Shopping options here really do reflect the breadth and depth of the city’s consumer culture, equal parts high fashion glitz and down-to-earth dedication to craft.
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O
Takashimaya
Step into the luxe marble entrance and you'll feel like you've walked onto the set of Mad Men. Uniformed docents operate the old-fashioned lifts and bow demurely with a geisha grin as you arrive and depart on each level. You'll find the ultimate pantheon of high-end brands upstairs, and a bustling depachika in the basement.
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P
Lane Crawford
This branch of Hong Kong’s original Western-style department store, the territory’s answer to Harrods in London, is the flagship. Everything on sale here from fashion to crockery is very, very stylish. There are also branches in Admiralty, Causeway Bay and Tsim Sha Tsui.
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Q
Tōkyū Hands
Ostensibly a do-it-yourself store, Tōkyū Hands carries a comprehensive collection of everything you didn't know you needed, from blown-glass pens and chainsaws to tofu tongs and party supplies. There are a few branches all over town – browsing through the Takashimaya Times Square location is probably the least maddening.
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R
Tax Department Store
If you’re pressed for time, several shopping centres are reliable one-stop destinations, including the inspiringly named (and cheap) Tax Department Store. A good shopping journey is at the gallery-and boutique-lined Ð Dong Khoi and the streets that intersect with it. This is also the place to look for high-quality handicrafts. Better deals can be found in Pham Ngu Lao, although the selection is less extensive.
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S
Mitsukoshi
One of Ginza's grande dames, Mitsukoshi embodies the essence of the Tokyo department store, and it gleams after a recent renovation. You'll find a variety of exciting treasures tucked inside, such as the 2nd-floor's outpost of Ladurée – the Parisian macaron monolith – decked out like a giant pastel Easter egg. A crown of restaurants are lofted on the building's top floors, ensuring you get some heady views of pulsing neon signs. The original Mitsukoshi department store is located north of Ginza's main drag near Mitsukoshimae Station.
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T
Chinese Arts & Crafts
Mainland-owned CAC is probably the best place in Hong Kong to buy quality bric-a-brac and other Chinese trinkets; it’s positively an Aladdin’s cave of souvenirs. On Hong Kong Island there are also branches in Central and Tsim Sha Tsui, and there’s also a huge one in Wan Chai.
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Chinese Arts & Crafts
Mainland-owned CAC is probably the best place in Hong Kong to buy quality bric-a-brac and other Chinese trinkets; it’s positively an Aladdin’s cave of souvenirs. On Hong Kong Island there are also branches in Central (Ground fl, Asia Standard Tower, 59 Queen's Rd Central) and Admiralty (Shop 220, Pacific Place, 88 Queensway), and there’s also a huge one in Wan Chai (Lower block, China Resources Bldg, 26 Harbour Rd).
reviewed
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Chinese Arts & Crafts
Mainland-owned CAC is probably the best place in Hong Kong to buy quality bric-a-brac and other Chinese trinkets; it’s positively an Aladdin’s cave of souvenirs. On Hong Kong Island there are also branches in Admiralty (Shop 220, Pacific Place, 88 Queensway) and Tsim Sha Tsui (1st fl, Star House, 3 Salisbury Rd), and there’s also a huge one in Wan Chai (Lower block, China Resources Bldg, 26 Harbour Rd).
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U
Loft
Insert expendable income here. Loft offers an enormous range of goodies, from colourful kitchenware to sleek furnishings – but the best merchandise is the goofier stuff, like wigs, psychedelic stationery and animal-shaped soap.
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V
Lotte Department Store
Four classy Lotte stores are linked together along this Myeong-dong street – the department store, Lotte Young Plaza, Lotte Avenuel and a duty-free shop – and the complex includes a multiplex cinema, food court, hotel and restaurants. It’s impossible not to get lost inside this busy retail beehive of brands but it’s an experience not to be missed.
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W
Don Quijote
This fluorescent-lit, trashy cousin of Tōkyū Hands is filled to the gills with weird loot: knock-off designer goods, packaged snacks, gimmicky seasonal rubbish and sex toys. There are branches of 'the donkey' all over Tokyo – the one in Roppongi has a weird horseshoe-shaped roller-coaster track on the roof (a clear zoning violation – it's not in use).
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