-
Homer Kitabevi
Homer has an excellent selection of history, architecture and art books - all about Turkey and İstanbul and all in English. It also has a large range of English-language fiction.
-
İpek
The silk ties and scarves sold at this long-established store make great presents, as they don't take up much of your baggage allowance and are keenly priced. Check out the colourful scarves featuring Ottoman calligraphy.
-
İstanbul Handicrafts Market
Set in the small rooms surrounding the leafy courtyard of the 18th-century Cedid Mehmed Efendi Medresesi, this handicrafts centre next door to the hotel Yeşil Ev is unusual in that local artisans sometimes work here and don't mind if visitors watch while they do so. Their creations are available for purchase; it's a great place to source beautiful calligraphy, glassware, hand embroidery, miniature paintings, ceramics and fabric dolls.
-
İstanbul Kitapçisi
This bookshop is run by the municipality and as a consequence prices are very reasonable. It stocks some English-language books about İstanbul, and a good range of maps, CDs, postcards and prints.
-
İstanbul Modern Gift Shop
Sometimes it can be difficult to source well-priced souvenirs to take home to one's nearest and dearest. Fortunately the gift shop at this top-notch contemporary art gallery sells desirable items aplenty - niftily designed T-shirts, CDs, coffee mugs, homewares and jewellery are on offer, as are cute gifts for kids. We particularly like the paint-your-own T-shirts, painting sets and stationery.
-
İyigün Oyuncak
These guys know what little kids like. And unlike the other stores in town, stock isn't dominated by toy weapons. There's everything from Brio to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, with a few educational parent-pleasers thrown in for good measure.
-
İznik Classics & Tiles
İznik Classics and Tiles is the best place in town to source collector-item ceramics, including hand-painted pieces by accredited masters including Adnan Hoca, whose plates, vases and tiles are made with real quartz and metal oxides for pigments and retail for anything up to around YTL5000 . It also stocks some mass-produced stock, which is a lot cheaper but still beautiful.
-
Kanyon
The ritzy Kanyon is home to multinational names such as Harvey Nichols, Wagamama, Georg Jensen, Le Pain Quotidien, Birkenstock, Mango and Mandarina Duck. It also has a few locally based stores, including Vakko, Ottoman Empire (funky T-shirts screenprinted with Ottoman influenced motifs) and Remzi Kitabevi (an excellent chain bookstore with a big English-language selection).
-
Koç Deri
If you fancy a leather jacket or coat, Koç is bound to have something that suits. It's one of the bazaar's busiest stores and certainly the most stylish of the leather outlets here.
-
Küçük Köşe
If you've always wanted a Kelly or Birkin but can't afford Hermès, this place is for you. Its copies of the work of the big-gun designers are good quality and they're a lot more affordable than the originals. The next-door store, Pako, is owned by the same people.
-
Advertisement
-
Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi Mahdumlari
Caffeine addicts are regularly spotted queuing outside this, the flagship store of İstanbul's most famous coffee purveyor. You can join them in getting a fix of the freshest beans in town, and also purchase a cute little set of two signature coffee cups and saucers, a copper coffee pot and a jar of coffee - it's a great gift to take back home.
-
La Cave Wine Shop
Its enormous selection of local and imported wine makes La Cave a good stop for tipplers. The staff can tell a Chablis from a chardonnay and will be happy to give advice on the best Turkish bottles to add to your cellar.
-
Lale Plak
This small shop is crammed with CDs of jazz, Western classical and Turkish classical and folk music. It's a popular hang-out for local bohemian types.
-
Leyla Seyhanli
If you love old clothes, you'll adore Leyla Seyhanlı's boutique. Filled to the brim with piles of Ottoman embroidery and outfits, it's a rummager's delight. It stocks everything from 1890s cashmere and velvet coats to 1950s taffeta party frocks to silk embroidery cushion covers that would have been at home in the Dolmabahçe Palace linen cupboard.
-
Mavi Jeans
The dress code of choice for İstanbul's youth is a pair of worn jeans (usually tight and low-slung) and a fair percentage of these would have been purchased from local company Mavi. Among the most popular ranges are those designed by internationally recognised fashion designer, Rıfat Özbek. Prices are at least half of those of foreign imports. There are other branches at İstiklal Caddesi 195 and 425.
-
Mehmet Çetinkaya Gallery
When rug experts throughout the country meet for their annual shindig, this is where they come to check out the good stuff. You won't find any rubbish here, and you could quite possibly find a family heirloom or two. Just remember: quality never comes cheaply. It has a second shop selling textiles and objets in the Arasta Bazaar.
-
Mehmet Kalmaz Baharatçi
One of the few shops in the Spice Bazaar that specialises in potions and lotions, this old-fashioned place sells remedies to make women younger, others to make men stronger, and a royal love potion that, we guess, is supposed to combine the two. It also stocks spices, bath accessories, teas and medicinal herbs.
-
Mephisto
If you manage to develop a taste for local music while you're in town, this popular store is the place to indulge it. As well as a huge CD collection of Turkish popular music, there's a select range of Turkish folk, jazz and classical music.
-
Metrocity
Metrocity isn't anywhere near as glam as Kanyon but is still extremely popular. It hosts high-street labels such as Zara, Benetton, Nike, Levi's and Mavi Jeans.
-
Milano Güzeliş
We've received a number of enthusiastic recommendations of this shop from travellers, meaning that we're confident in recommending this long-established store in the bazaar's main street. It makes jewellery to order using every gold grade and every conceivable gem, precious or otherwise.
-
Advertisement
-
Mor Taki
The gals of this city love their jewellery, and this funky little store keeps many of their collections topped up with costume pieces by local designers.
-
Mudo Pera
Housed on the bottom two floors of an Art-Nouveau building, the interior of this boutique is all gleaming wood and cunning lighting - very 1920s Pera. It stocks good-quality clothing made from cashmere, cotton and silks, as well as an eclectic range of gifts and tableware. There's another store in Teşvikiye Caddesi.
-
Muhlis Günbatti
One of the most famous stores in the bazaar, Muhlis Günbattı specialises in suzani fabrics from Uzbekistan. These spectacularly beautiful bedspreads, tablecloths and wall hangings are made from fine cotton embroidered with silk. As well as the textiles, it stocks top-quality carpets, brightly coloured kilims and a small range of antique Ottoman fabrics richly embroidered with gold.
-
Necef
This is where to come for a gorgeous Byzantine-style piece of jewellery in gold or silver with semi-precious stones. The earrings and rings are particularly elegant and are very well priced when one considers their quality. It also sells antique pieces.
-
Ortaköy Market
On Saturday and Sunday the laneways around the waterfront mosque in Ortaköy host a flea market. Merchandise is tacky - most seems to come from the Subcontinent and Africa and is found in flea markets worldwide - and the handicrafts on offer are firmly in the hippy camp, but it's still a pleasant spot to while away a weekend hour or two.
