North GoaShopping

Shopping in North Goa

  1. A

    Mapusa Market

    The Mapusa market goes about its business daily, except Sundays, but really gets going on Friday mornings. It’s a raucous affair that attracts vendors and shoppers from all over Goa (and interstate) with an entirely different vibe to the Anjuna market. Here you’ll find locals haggling for clothing and produce, and you can also find antiques, souvenirs and textiles. So significant is the market locally that the town’s name is derived from the Konkani words map meaning ‘measure’ and sa meaning ‘fill up’, in reference to the trade in spices, vegetables and fruit that’s plied here daily.

    reviewed

  2. B

    Oxford Arcade

    The massive Oxford Arcade, just next to the Starco crossroads, is a fully fledged supermarket, complete with shopping trolleys, ice-cold air-conditioning and checkout scanners. Hallowed ground for foreigners who pay dearly for little luxuries, it also sports a bakery, toiletries department, pet food, wine department and children’s toys. Come Christmas, this is the place to buy your tinsel and baubles, fake tree and kids’ gifts to stack beneath it.

    reviewed

  3. Glastonbury Street

    Everything beaded, mirrored, embroidered and embellished is to be found on the stretch of sandy lane winding down to the beach that British festival-going visitors refer to as ‘Glastonbury Street’. Here, stalls jostle shoulder-to-shoulder to sell you everything Indian, so haggle hard to fill your bag with bright and beautiful bed spreads, bindis, bidis (local, hand-rolled cigarettes) or bongos to take back home.

    reviewed

  4. Friday Market

    The market town of Mapusa (pronounced ‘Mapsa’) is the largest town in northern Goa, and is most often visited for its busy Friday Market which attracts scores of buyers and sellers from neighbouring towns and villages, and a healthy intake of tourists from the northern beaches. It’s a good place to pick up the usual slew of embroidered bedsheets and the like, at prices far lower than in the beach resorts.

    reviewed

  5. C

    Municipal Market

    This atmospheric place, where narrow streets have been converted into covered markets, makes for a nice wander, offering fresh produce, clothing stalls and some tiny, enticing eateries. The fish market is a particularly interesting strip of activity.

    reviewed

  6. D

    Rainbow Bookshop

    In Vagator you’ll find the lovely little Rainbow Bookshop, which is run by a charming elderly gentleman and stocks a good range of secondhand and new books, including Lonely Planet guides.

    reviewed

  7. E

    Bombay Stores

    Selling high-quality gifts, crafts, textiles, beauty products, tea and jewellery, Bombay Stores makes for good gift shopping, with the slightly befuddling slogan ‘Treasures to Gift, Gifts to Treasure’.

    reviewed

  8. F

    Fusion Access

    A cool 1st-floor treasure trove, filled with beautiful reproduction antiques – from beds to bedside lamps – textiles, richly illustrated books on Goa, and lots of other exciting goodies.

    reviewed

  9. G

    Other India Bookstore

    A little hard to find: go up the steps on the right as you walk down Mapusa Clinic Rd, and follow signs. This friendly and rewarding little bookshop is at the end of a dingy corridor.

    reviewed

  10. H

    Visionworld Book Depot

    Offers a good selection of self-help and spiritual titles, novels and children’s books, as well as selling an assortment of locally made snacks to provide sustenance for browsing.

    reviewed

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  12. I

    Sosa’s

    A chic boutique carrying local labels such as Horn Ok Please, Hidden Harmony and Free Falling, Sosa’s is the best place in Panaji to source upscale Indian fashion.

    reviewed

  13. J

    Singbal’s Book House

    A good selection of international magazines and newspapers, and lots of books on Goa, are offered at this slightly grumpy establishment.

    reviewed

  14. K

    Book Fair

    A small, well-stocked bookshop in the Hotel Mandovi lobby, with plenty of well-illustrated books on Goa.

    reviewed

  15. L

    Pauline Book & Media Centre

    Specialising in self-help, spiritual and religious titles. Down a laneway off 18th June Rd.

    reviewed

  16. M

    New Municipal Market

    Near the Muncipal Market, you’ll find everything from fruit and vegetables to tailors.

    reviewed

  17. N

    Hotel Mandovi

    Small, well-stocked bookshop in hotel lobby.

    reviewed