Gifts (for yourself and others)
Ahhh…Gifts…There’s a million billion gazillion cool things to buy and almost as many cool places to buy them from. Here’s a list some popular places where you can buy an assortment of things.
Now you can also buy a variety of gifts online to surprise friends and family at Bangalore or in India, Just a click and you have lit up a couple of eyes. Buy just anything from Music to Books to Jewelry to Toys or even some atta-dal (i mean Groceries).
Raga’s
This place stocks terracotta jewelry, cool T-shirts with Indian motifs, funky candles and other stuff. It’s a very popular place.
Archie’s
Mostly cards, stationery, posters, and mugs. Also things like friendship bands, stickers and the like. There are outlets on Brigade Road, St. Mark’s Road and Commercial Street. There are many other outlets all over the city as well.
MusicWorld
This is a music store of truly international standards. Located on Brigade Road, it has a large variety of cassettes, audio CD’s and CD-ROMs. There is enough space for you to walk around. They also have a number of listening booths. The staff is discreet and very helpful.
Fast Forward is a similar place, and also worth looking at.
You can try the HMV outlets, but frankly, they don’t hold a candle to MusicWorld and Fast Forward. Some of these outlets are on St. Marks Road, M.G. Road, and Brigade Road.
Arihant Plaza
Overflowing with fake brands at dirt-cheap prices. You get a lot of stuff that’s imported (and not legally, either), which you won’t find in other places. You’ll find virtually everything here—trendy clothes, accessories, shoes, perfumes, cosmetics, cutlery, chocolates and innumerable other items.
Arihant Plaza is located opposite the beginning of Commercial Street. Symbolically enough, it’s underground!
Westside
Located on Commercial Street. The top floor has lots of lovely stuff, right from cool mugs to tablecloths to cushions to candle-stands. It’s not particularly inexpensive. It’s worth a look. (They also sell clothes, cosmetics and jewelry.)
Strand Bookstall
Located in Manipal Centre, it is the book-lover’s dream come true. They actually encourage browsing, and they have comfortable and strategically placed chairs where you can sit and browse! And they always have a twenty percent discount on their books. The collection of books is really good, and just in case you don’t find the title you’re looking for, you can leave your name and number…they’ll get the book and then inform you. This is what a bookstore should be!
Another good bookstore is Sankar’s. They also sell a lot of magazines. They have outlets in the airport and in the Taj Residency.
Gangaram’s
All sorts of books, from fiction to fact. They stock textbooks, technical books, CD-ROMs. They also have cards, stationery, diaries, planners and little knick-knacks. It’s pretty big, and spread over four floors. They don’t like browsers.
