Shopping in Johannesburg
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A
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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B
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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C
Boekehuis
A fantastic independent bookshop in an old house with polished wood floors, fireplaces, a garden coffee shop, oh, and a wide range of tomes on literature, politics, history and art including the largest selection of Afrikaans books in Jo’burg. It holds regular readings, book launches and discussions.
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D
Bryanston Organic Market
Arts and crafts are on offer here but the main draw is the splendid organic produce. There are stalls bursting with organic meats, cheese and breads, as well as quick eats, from tea to vegetarian Indian. Organisers support fair trade, organic produce and handmade arts and crafts.
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E
Market Square Market
Held on Saturday mornings in the car park opposite the Market Theatre, there’s a lively, cheerful atmosphere (with buskers), and although most of the stalls sell flea-market rubbish, there are also some reasonable crafts amid the dross.
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Exclusive Books
Exclusive Books chain is the best in town, with the widest range of local press, travel guides and international newspapers. You’ll have to fork out for international bestsellers, most of which are imported.
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Kohinoor
Kohinoor, in a basement underneath a furniture store, is one of the best sources of ethnic/African music, and sells everything from kwaito to jazz.
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Rosebank Rooftop Market
This is one of the most convenient places to shop for traditional carvings, beadwork, jewellery, books and fertility dolls. It’s held in Rosebank Mall’s multilevel car park.
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Xarra Books
This excellent bookshop deals in books on African literature, history, politics and art and has an African music section. Book launches and readings are held on Thursday evening.
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Zasekhaya
Zasekhaya holds a market on the last Saturday of every month in Mary Fitzgerald Sq in Newtown, selling jewellery leatherwork and other crafts.
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I
44 Stanley Avenue
Funky little mall in a revitalised industrial building, full of cool boutiques, antique stores and restaurants instead of marble, fountains and chain stores.
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Rosebank Mall
If you’re after serious retail therapy, head to this interlocking series of malls, with central parking on the corner of Cradock Ave and Baker St.
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Book Dealers of Melville
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Chapter 1 Books
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Faraday Market
This is an interesting place to wander around, with plenty of muti (traditional medicine) stalls.
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Nelson Mandela Square
Adjoining and similar to Sandton City Mall. There’s an Italian-style piazza full of restaurants as well as an indoor mall section.
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N
Eastgate Mall
Off the N12 just east of Bruma Lake. Boasts of being Africa’s largest mall.
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Bruma Lake Market World
By Bruma Lake, this place sells a wide range of crafts and lots of kitsch.
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Maponya Mall
Between 2005 and 2008 Soweto became home to four major new malls, Protea Bardens, Barmall, Jabulani and the most talked about, the huge Maponya Mall. Opened in late 2007, it’s the size of eight football pitches, with some 200 stores, cafes and restaurants, and an eight-screen cinema. While some see this as a sign that the township is on the up, others we spoke to were unimpressed, feeling that many of the jobs in the new malls were going to people outside of Soweto and not to those in the local community. A local shop owner told us that such malls were already putting home-based and street-front shops out of business. These shops were not for the wider community but ‘only…
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Hyde Park Mall
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Fourways Mall
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