Review Overview
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Summary : The best is Central Cottage Industries Emporium in Janpath.
You can buy practically anything in Delhi. It has the best selection of goods from all parts of India, often sold more cheaply than at their point of origin. For instance, smart leather shoes sell here for 20-30% less than in Agra, where many of them are produced.
All the major co-operatives have stores in Delhi. The best is Central Cottage Industries Emporium in Janpath. This sells all types of products and craft items, at fixed prices, and is a useful place to check what’s available (and how much it should cost) before hitting the bazaars and shops. It offers a fine range of fabrics, crafts and furniture, including silk for Rs80-300 per metre, leather and suede jackets for Rsl000-2000, and Kashmiri carpets from Rs6000.
Having seen the range, you can walk two roads clockwise round Connaught Place to Baba Kharak Singh Marg (on radial road 2) for the local specialities of the various State Government Emporia (Orissa for crafts, Tamil Nadu and Bihar for silks, Rajasthan for mirror-work embroidery, Gujarat for high-quality carvings and lacquered items). Many other bazaars are worth visiting: notably the Tibetan Bazaar in front of the Hotel Imperial on Janpath; Khadi Gramodyog Bhawan, 24 Regal Building, Connaught Place (for nice hand-loomed textiles); and the Antique Market round Sunder Nagar Square, by the Zoo (for bronze, brass, curios and jewellery).
Also good for jewellery are the bazaars of Chandni Chowk in the old city. You can pick up brass, rugs, paintings and antiques here at knockdown prices. It’s a good idea to take any big art buys to the National Museum to have them authenticated. It’s also worth having expensive jewels verified at the Government Gem Laboratory at new. Delhi House in Barakhamba Rd. Two other good markets, particularly for saris sandals, block-printed fabrics, are Khan Market in New Delhi, and South ext.Both heav good tailors who can run up dreses, shirts, suits both quickly and cheaply. A slightly more costly but excellent tailoring services is provided by the Maurya Sheraton Hotel, Sardar Patel Marg. Finally, a special mention for the underground Palika Bazaar on Connaught Circle. this busy, air-conditioned market, open 10 am to 8 pm (except Sundays) is a great place for general shopping. Lal Behari Tandon (shop 20) has well-priced clothes and furnishings: men’s kurta-pajama sets (Rs95-250), ladies’ kurta-pajama salwar sets (Rs.95-5,00), embroidered tablecloths (Rs250-700) and table-mat sets. Several other shops, like Godfather (shop 206), have regular ‘fashion’ clothes sales. In all markets there are shops selling music cassettes which in India are remarkably cheap (Rs40-60 and most of them are legal.
Hauz khas Village (see p.105) is one of the newer shopping areas with a good range of craft shops, fashion clothes and leather goods. There are also two interesting galleries with regular shows.serious shoppers should look in the advertising columns of daily newspapers for details of forthcoming sales and exhibitions, at which many items are often heavily discounted .
Most shops in Delhi are open from around 9 am to 7 pm Monday to Saturday, l ed on Sunday. Some areas such as South Extension and Greater Kailash are open on Sunday but closed Mondays.
