The best gift shop in Mumbai!!! and other Mumbai, India Shopping Tips

Name of Shop: The Bombay Store

The Bombay Store is one of the best places you can gift yourself or someone dear and special a lovely gift that they will cherish all their lives!!! It has a wide range of gifts and a lot more than just gifts too for everybody, no matter how old or young they may be!!! Drop in for a huge collection of art and handicrafts as well as clothes, jewellery, carpets, wall hangings, exquisite tea in gift packs, leather products, candles, writing instruments and accessories, wooden and stone carvings, etc. all for a very reasonable price and a wide range to select from!!! Come and take your pick for you will be left asking for more space to put all your purchases and your baggage allowances will not be sufficient for all that you buy here!!! HAHAHA!!!

What To Buy: Tea, handicrafts, carpets, wall hangings, stone sculptures, wooden sculptures, jewellery, writing accessories, clothes, leather goods, gifts of all kinds!!!

What To Pay: Comparatively reasonable prices and good bargains for a lovely selection of gifts, all under one roof!!!

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Theme: Gifts
Phone: 22885048/9
Directions: Western India House, Sir Phirozsha Mehta Road, Fort, Mumbai - 400 001.
Website: www.bombaystore.com
Other Contact: email: response@bombaystore.com

Name of Shop: Strand Book Stall

One of the most famous and reader oriented book shops in Mumbai started by the defatiguable Mr. Shanbag who started with an actually small stall in the erstwhile Strand movie theatre near Colaba, now shifted to the more spacious (still small) premises at Sir PM Road. All kinds of books and magazines are available on order at the greatest discounts possible in this field!!! The staff are very helpful and go about doing business but are more like a friend rather than shop owners!!!

Their once in a year sale of books is a geat bargain for here you will get books at upto 80% discounts and well worth the effort of going through all the books at your own free time!!! No questions asked and no strange looks or staring eyes!!! So go pick up lots of bargain books and enjoy the lost art of reading (books) in this internet age!!!

What To Buy: BOOOOOOOOKS!!!!! What else!!! Well alright, you may find some music CD's as well at discount prices!!! And the best collection of travel guides too!!!

What To Pay: Most books are at discounted prices and are also available by post!!!

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Theme: Books
Phone: 22661994/22661719 Fax: 22051754
Address: 15 C, Dhannur, Sir PM Road, Fort, Mumbai - 400001.
Website: www.strandbookstall.com
Other Contact: Email: strandbookstall@vsnl.com

Name of Shop: Avante - Tourist Paradise

Lots of local and Indian gifts for souvenirs made by local craftsmen and artists for the tourism industry at cheap prices for good artworks!!! Very helpful staff and courteous service!!! Small shop with big bargain prices!!!

What To Buy: Hand painted artwork on wood, silk, cloth or paper. Wooden handicrafts, pillboxes, jewellery boxes and souvenirs handcrafted and designed by village craftsmen from all over India!!! Palm leaf paintings / etchings with carvings too!!! Filigree work. Handwoven materials for dresses, shawls, etc. Postcards and all kinds of small and big souvenirs available at good prices for the tourist!!! Not like most other shops where they fleece the tourists!!!

What To Pay: From as low as Rs30 for a handpainted silk cloth painting (well worth that price) to anything like Rs300 to 500 for many big and excellent souvenir / gift items that you would not get for that price anywhere else!!!

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Theme: Local Craft
Phone: 091-022-22020873
Address: Indian Mercantile Mansion, Opp Regal Cinema Colaba
Directions: Shop 12, Indian Mercantile Mansion, Opposite Regal Cinema, Wodehouse Road, Colaba Mumbai - 400039.

Name of Shop: Books on the streets!!!

A real paradise for book lovers!!! The streets of Mumbai have some of the latest as well as oldest books available for almost next to nothing sometimes or at almost one tenth the prices of new editions!!! Some may be slightly shop soiled copies or may even be brand new, sometimes they are second hand books but mainly in very good condition!!! Whatever the case may be you will get a good bargain for the prices you pay!!! You do have to haggle a bit or else they will rip you off!!! Try to bring down the prices from what they ask by atleast 50% and expect to pay about 60% to 70% (maximum) of the prices quoted by them!!! Don't go by the orginal price of the book!!! Look for the code price that they have written in ink on the top left hand corner of the last page inside the cover. Make a rough calculation from that price and reduce it to about 50% and then play along in the bargaining game till you get the price you want!!! And show that you are not really interested in buying that particular book or else if they think you desperately need it then they will never come down on the prices!!! Walk away and then they will call you again till you finalise the deal!!! Make sure it is in your favour though!!! HAHAHA!!!

Happy book buying at prices that will sweep you off the streets literally!!! HAHAHA!!!

What To Buy: You can get the latest and the oldest books in good condition and down to earth prices so just ask what you want and though they may not be able to speak english well, they will understand exactly what you want if you write it down for them and they will tell you if it is available or not or even if they can procure it for you at a later date!!! You just have to ask!!!

Caution: Sometimes they have bestsellers at prices of less than a dollar each but they could be pirated copies which you can easily make out and I would not recommend buying them!!!

What To Pay: From as little as Rs 5 for a Time or Newsweek magazine to Rs75 for the latest National Geographic Magazine!!! Or as little as Rs10 for some old books to about Rs1000 for some coffee table books that cost more than Rs3000 in the bookshops!!!

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Theme: Books
Address: On the pavements from Churchgate to Flora Fountain
Directions: On the pavements from Churchgate Railway station towards Flora Fountain as well as opposite the Fountain on both the sides of the main road and also on the pavement next to the Mumbai University building.

Name of Shop: STORES/ SHOPPING CENTRES

Try FabIndia for some really good bedsheets, duvets, pillow covers, etc. They have a shop at Fort opposite the University building. But this will be expensive too. For cheaper options you can go to the shops in the three lanes outside the Dadar railway station on the Western side. There are a few shops where you will get them here too.



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Theme: Home Furnishing