The cheap shopper’s guide to Mumbai

Good! So you’ve survived the streets of south Mumbai and are ready for more bargain hunting! Like scarves, there are a variety of accessories that you can just throw on to jazz up any outfit to suit any occasion. Some accessories, you would do good to have a bunch of, others, a few good pieces would suffice for most purposes. One item that falls under this category, are watches! Now, if brands are your thing, it’s no worry at all, but! If you don’t mind wearing a rip-off of the latest Guess or Tag Heuer every now and then, you are bound to love my next shopping destination!

Welcome to Manish Market, CST.

Located close to CST, or the formerly VT station, this market has been around for quite some time and popular for all the Chinese goods you can get here. Now, to be very honest, I had found entering this place quite intimidating, for the simple reason that bargaining with the shop keepers here, had been a rather difficult task. Any attempt on my part to bargain, had only brought on some very derisive responses from the shop keepers. This I say, not to intimidate you before hand, but just as a helpful pointer how to overcome this marketing trick of theirs.

You see, the shops here, overprice their goods a good deal above the actual price of the product! So say, if you liked a watch out here, a rip-off of the latest designer watch of course, it would be safe to assume, the price quoted would be around 700-1000 bucks. Now, this is one direction, in which the conversation could possibly go…

Shopkeeper says,… this one… original Guess.. Rs. 850…

You say… oh.. very nice.. but its kinda beyond my budget… thanks… .. I’ll go see something else..

Wait wait… at least name your price..

Nah… it’s ok… your original offer is way too high

Come on… at least name your price..

I’d pay 100 bucks for this…. ( if you are not feeling too brave, you could start with 150 and stick to it. I start with 150. My mom picks 90)

Oh..no no… 150… u’ll not get that any where….

and so on and so forth…

No matter what.. you stick to 150. If need be, increase you offer by 5 bucks at a time. No more.

Remember, eventually, the objective, is to get the watch for 100 or 150 bucks max. remember, you show only enough interst in the watch to let em know, you like it only enough to get it for the price you want to pay,and not what he asks for!! Achiving this could involve walking away several times when you hit a deadend in the discussion. doubtlessly, they are bound to call you back and continue on talking this over… once you have them bring down the price in your comfort zone, say around 200 bucks, the rest should be easy. And if you are going with a friend, bargaining for the second watch should be easier. This one time I got one watch for 150 bucks and picked out another equally amazing for only 100 bucks.

(pictured below, the 2nd watch got for 100 bucks)

I would say.. not bad at all! If you have a bargaining story you’d like to share, you’re most welcome to post it here!!

Until the next post, So long!!

Mumbai’s Bazaar Secrets

Having lived all my life in Mumbai, in several different parts of it, one thing I have a huge appreciation of, for this mad city of mine, is the mind bogglingly huge number of small, big, large and enormous markets it has to offer for every possible kind of shopper.

When we talk of shopping in Mumbai, there are a few markets that easily come to mind. The large shopping complexes, the fashion streets of south Mumbai, Bhuleshawar, and even Chor Bazaar! But apart from these, there is this whole bunch of small and medium sized fancy markets that throw up just the most amazing surprises in terms of the merchandise they have on offer and the rock bottom prices they sell at! And whenever I think I’ve seen it all, I come across yet another market place with yet more surprising wares, without causing any damage to my not so deep pockets after yet another shopping spree.

I’ve explored and bargained and had so much fun hopping in the bazaars of Mumbai, I would love to share some of my shopping secrets with you.

Why not start with one of my favorite markets closest to my home right here in south Mumbai?

Alright! Alright! … Jumping right into the market!! Now you’ve got to watch out for yourself here!! And God help you, if you dragged along an unwilling shopper with you. This place can be seriously overwhelming for the infrequent or leisurely street shopper. This place, in my mind is chaos personified!

Welcome to the fancy cloth market at Agripada, Mumbai!

I cannot tell you much of the nomenclature of this place, but the one thing I can tell you is, I committed this name to memory for any future reference the minute I laid eyes on this amazing white scarf my mom brought back from one of her first shopping trips there and told me she actually paid 30 bucks for it. (For all future references, bucks refer to INR, unless stated otherwise). I know you are thinking, that could be possible else where’s in Mumbai too, but let me just point out, this scarf travelled with me to the US and was exceptionally well received in my opinion, and complimented by a surprisingly large number of friends and strangers alike. Yes, this scarf has IT!

(afore mentioned White scarf featured below in a picture with not as much clarity as desired)

OK! OK!! Jumping right back into the market! If you have the time, and the energy to squeeze your way through this crowded colorful circus of a place you will find loads of fabrics, dress materials, embroidered patches etc, at fairly reasonable prices. You could browse through it all for hours without tiring.

But for me, the highlights of this trip are the scarves. Now this stall is located pretty much towards the end of the narrow crowded lane, between 2 other fabric stall and you could miss it if you are not familiar with the geography of the place. But, a little patience here can be very rewarding!

And when I say scarves, I mean The- Girl- in -the -Green -Scarf-from –the- movie- Confessions- of- a Shopaholic- scarves. The original Collection18 scarves featured in the movie, for the price of a kerchief purchased on the local train!! You have to believe me; it doesn’t get any more delicious then this.

For 10, 20 or 30 bucks, you can get the kind of scarves; you would have trouble finding in the best of stores across Mumbai, for any given price.

And if you have a thing for bargaining, you could easily get 9-10 scarves for 100 bucks! Me? I bargain. A lot. And I’ve always come away happy after shopping here. Right from plain, silk, dressy to frilly and delicate to a complex combination of all of these, you could find any kind of scarf you wish for right in this one place!

A word of advice for the first time shopper here though; Go with an open mind, and be ready to dig! Do not go with a fixed design or color in mind, and you will be enormously surprised with the variety this guy sells. And this being a road show, you are had best wear comfy clothes you can kneel down in to dig through all of the stuff to get to the ones you want!

Generally milling with women on all days, Sundays can be pretty crowded out here and leave you exhausted before you can reach the scarves. Saturdays, though, are a good time to shop here. The market generally sets-up between 4 pm till around 9-10 pm 7 days a week. Elbows out, is the right way to walk here for girls if you know what I mean, and although I have not heard or experience this myself, guard your valuables against pickpockets or simply carelessness.

Arm yourself with loads of loose change to aid in the bargaining and you are all set to add some designer scarves to your collection!

Until next time, when I share some more bazaar secrets with you, Happy shopping to you!