Shopping in Johannesburg

Shopping in Johannesburg offers a huge choice of options from upmarket fashion boutiques and giant malls to street markets, vendors and curiosity shops.

Key areas

Melville's Main Road and Seventh Streets are home to second-hand bookshops, while the favoured area for antiques is Norwood, particularly Grant Avenue. Art Africa, 62 Tyrone Avenue, Parkview, sells a range of African arts and crafts objects, often from recycled materials in self-help projects. The Giraffe Centre, Second Avenue, Melville, has a wide selection of craft shops, while the shop at the Moyo restaurant, at Zoo Lake in Parkview has a colourful and expansive range of gifts, furniture and crafts sourced from artists from disadvantaged communities.

Markets

Visitors should try Johannesburg's exciting array of flea markets. Bruma Market World, 49 Ernest Oppenheimer Avenue, Bruma, is a sprawling, bewildering mass of over 600 stalls, which is open daily (except Monday), 0930-1700.
Shopping in Johannesburg's African Craft Market, next to The Mall of Rosebank, 1 Cradock Avenue, Rosebank, is enlivened by performances by local bands. There are hundreds of stalls offering excellent African curious, and central desks to pay for items by credit card. The market is open daily 0900-1700.
Bryanston Organic Market, 231 Bryanston Drive, Bryanston, Sandton, is a craft market, where everything is strictly handmade or organically produced. It is famous for tasty home bakes and a delicious range of homemade cheeses. A popular tea garden offers pies, pastries and pots of indigenous rooibos (bush) tea. It is open Thursday to Saturday mornings, as well as for occasional moonlight markets (1700-2100) over summer.

Shopping centres

New, huge shopping malls are still springing up in and around Johannesburg. Eastgate Mall, The Mall of Rosebank, Hyde Park Corner and Fourways Mall are the biggest and best, while Sandton City offers designer fashion, jewellery, electronic goods and also some excellent (but expensive) curio shops.

Opening hours

Mall shopping hours are generally daily 0900-1800 (although the smaller ones close on Sunday afternoons).

Tax information

Value added tax (VAT) of 14% is levied on all goods sold (although this is largely ignored in the flea markets). Visitors can reclaim this upon departure at the airports or land borders, provided they have kept all receipts. For more information visit www.taxrefunds.co.za.