Nairobi Shopping

If you are looking for local/regional music – this is a good place to go. They have a pretty wide variety of African music of many different styles. They seem to have a lot more cassette tapes than CDs, but there is still a lot of stuff to look through and consider. I just asked the shopkeeper who was popular at the moment and who her favorites were and bought 3 CDs.

What to buy: music...aaaaand...music

What to pay: 1000 schillings for a CD

For the love of Pete, buy something worth buying since you came all the way to Nairobi. There’s nothing I can’t stand more than seeing the same things everywhere for sale. I don’t want to buy one of the 4,000,000 wooden giraffes all over town that are available to buy. Even if it isn’t one of a kind, I want to buy something unique and special when I am in other countries. The Banana Box has a great selection of quality items at very good prices. If you want something nice that has that artistic African flair to it, I suggest you go here. Selection, quality, and a good price. What more could you want?

What to buy: artistic items, souvenirs (with style), clothes, gifts, jewelry

What to pay: not a lot actually

Its supposed to be Kenya's biggest and busiest shopping mall, and on weekends especially, its easy to see why...
And with a total built-up area 500,000 sq.ft. and spread across six levels, it is indeed pretty big.
The Sarit centre boasts of a cinema hall, a health club and a swimming pool too, besides the usual mix of shops and cafes, and comes with its own loyalty bonus programme card.

There are so many little gift shops with local items to buy! Beautiful clothing, jewelry, carved statues, antique and cultural items, music, art work.

What to buy: Things you can't get in other parts of Africa you can find in Nairobi. We did all our shopping there.

What to pay: As much as you want! Be prepared to dicker! There aren't any price tags and they'll start out telling you, the more you buy, the more discount they'll give you.

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Nairobi's open markets are peraps the best place to get great bargains on local craft.
The huge number of sellers in the area means that theres a lot of variety and there is a lot of competition and soliciting to attract customers, often with very good bargains.

Sellers will even offer you deals in return for your watch, your cap or anything that seems worth trading.

Generally speaking, there are three main open markets in town... which come together on different days of the week.

Tuesdays- Globe Cinema Roundabout, City Centre

Fridays- Village Market, Gigiri

Sundays- Safari Park Hotel, Thika Road.

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On several occassions thru my trip in east Africa, i couldnt help being drawn to shops that stocked local handicrafts. Bright and colourful, i would squeeze in a few mins at every possible chance, to pop into one of these shops. Often i bought stuff, ticking off names on the long list of people that i wanted to bring stuff for back in India.
Some i thought i got for a fair price, others prooved hard on the bargaining and i paid much more than i wanted to... all in all, good stuff but a bit expensive often. Our local contacts in the region would almost always say-- ya good, but you could have got it for half the price you paid:S
Sometimes, it did help to get the local guys with you, to buy something for you-bargain etc.
Coming from India, i should know how to bargain hard... but on our last day in Kenya, when we chanced upon one of the open markets, did i realise how much cheaper it can really get!

What to buy: Masks, masai paintings, ceramic stuff, and lots more... masai spears and other weapons too!

What to pay: Usually you can start bargaining by quoting half... the rest depends on how hard a nut you are to crack!

You can't go to Kenya without buying at least one wood carving. You will see them for sale everywhere.

Street stalls sell these and a host of other local crafts. Almost every street where the tourist frequents, will have some wares laid out on the pavement.

What to buy: Carved animals and caricatures of local people are the two most popular buys.

What to pay: Bargain, bargain and bargain hard. But do remember that these people are trying to make a living. Settle on a price which is fair to you and them, ripping someone off os not cool.

I needed to buy lots and lots of food and drinks...only one place to go : Uchumi !

I never expected a place like this, it's so modern and big, bright lighted... so western.

You'll find everything you'll need here, 20 kinds of mineral water, 100 brands of cookies, ...

Couldn't believe my eyes...