Sri
Lanka / Colombo / Shopping
As the commercial
and cultural center of Sri Lanka Colombo finds adequate representations
of traditional wares from all over the country as well as of items
on a more contemporary shopping menu. Apart from shopping arcades
in most hotels, there is a great variety of specialist shops in
the city. Liberty Plaza and Majestic City are the two prime shopping
malls, both with supermarkets (Keells and Cargills respectively)
which stock large varieties of foreign goods. Pettah is the place
if you're looking for bargains on anything and everything (see
description in sights'). Though the regular shops in Pettah are
closed on Sundays the Main Street substitutes as an open air bazaar.
A similar bazaar flourishes on Olcott Street, near Fort railway
station.
Since Sri
Lanka is a major garment manufacturer and exporter well known
international brand name clothes are available here at extremely
reasonable prices. The most well known is Odel on 5 Alexandra
Place, Lipton Circus, Colombo 7 where one can pick up T-shirts,
cotton shirts, jumpers and padded jackets and also have a snack
at the in house cafe. Cotton Collections at Ernest de Silva Mawatha,
Colombo 7 is another similar shop, stocking clothing for men,
women and children. Both have branches in Majestic City. At Kids,
169 kynsey Road, Colombo 8 shop for pre teenage clothes and at
Toys For U at 385 RA De Mel Mawatha for toys. At Majestic City
again is Leather Collection for bags and shoes. Though gem and
jewellery shops are liberally distributed all over the city the
greatest concentration is at the Sri Lanka Gem and Jewellery Exchange,
310 Galle Road, Colombo 3 where the State Gem Corporation has
a testing center. Tel: 576144-46
The best place
for handicrafts is the state run emporium, Laksala at 60 York
Street, Fort. Tel: 323513. Lanka Mahila Samiti Craft Center, 1st
Floor Unity Plaza, Galle Road, Colombo 4 sells rural handicrafts
at reasonable rates and Barefoot at 704 Galle Road, Colombo 3
has quality handicrafts albeit at higher prices. For antiques
visit Paradise Road, which doubles as a restaurant and has more
than one branch and for ceramics Lanka Ceramics Ltd. at Bambalapitiya
Tel: 589349.
If you want
a taste of arguably the best tea in the world, head for 574 Galle
Road, Colombo 3 where the Sri Lanka Tea Board has sales counters.
Good bookshops
are the Serendib Gallery for rare books on Sri Lanka and on antiques,
and for contemporary books Vijitha Yapa 202-5 Galle Road, Unity
Plaza, Colombo 4 (another branch on the same side of the road),
Lake House Bookshop, 100 Chitt ampalam Gardiner Mawatha, Colombo
3 and, Bookland, 20 St. Michaels Road, Union Assurance Center,
Colombo 3.
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