Main Shopping Areas Guide
CBD
The entire CBD is one big shopping district, with all manner of retail outlets, and there are specific districts which, while not exclusive, tend towards having certain kinds of shops:
Kloof Street: This is a hub for upmarket interior décor stores (listed in the ‘Home Furnishing’ section), and also contains numerous designer clothing stores, typically targeted at the alternative punk/street youth market.
Long Street: The top of Long Street, near Kloof Street, is known for its antique stores and second hand book shops. The Long Street Antique Arcade (number 127) is just one long passage of over a dozen such stores. Church street, which runs off Long Street, is a pedestrian thoroughfare where you’ll find antique stalls and second hand clothes and shoes. Further down Long street (in the direction of the harbor) you’ll find numerous shops selling African curios – the Pan African market (number 76) sells all manner of traditional, tribal-themed artwork.
Adderley Street: Here you’ll find the main entrance into the Golden Acre, Cape Town’s oldest shopping centre, which is connected to two other malls under the street, in a labyrinth that extends for several blocks. It’s a good place to go if you’re looking to find just about anything cheaply, as is the whole of Adderley Street and, indeed, St. George’s Mall, which runs parallel to it.
The Foreshore: Situated near Cape Town’s harbor, this is the area you’ll find most of the auto dealerships in town. The rest, along with numerous auto repair shops, are positioned along Buitengracht Street, the length of road between the bottom of Kloof Nek and the beginning of the N1 highway.
The Waterfront
This massive shopping district is also surely the most scenic in the Western Cape. Aside from the essentials of food and clothing, which it covers in abundance, it’s the place to find all the best designer stores, including numerous international brands, as well as some of the best home stores, bookshops and jewelers. (See listings under ‘Shopping Centers’).
Paarden Eiland
If you’re building or furnishing a home, this is the place to go. Specialty warehouses and stores for everything from roofing tiles to bathroom fittings line the roadways, along with a number of auto dealerships. Paarden Eiland is actually the place you go to get most skilled tasks done cheaply, as the area’s low rental costs keep business overheads down. It’s a bit of a warren when it comes to finding anything except the biggest retailers – you’ll normally learn about stores by word of mouth.
Voortrekker Road
You get to Voortrekker Road by turning left off Woodstock Main Road when you hit Salt River Circle, a point of confluence for five roads. This area is where you’ll find most of the scrap yards in the Western Cape, and is the place to go if you’re ever in need of a cheap replacement part for your car.
