38 Best Shopping in Mumbai, India

At this shop find lovely, colorful, and quality clothes with block-print designs from Rajasthan.

A must for souvenir shoppers, the friendly Bombay Store sells clothing and accessories for men, women, and children, silk by the meter, housewares, organic wellness products, and gifts. There are a number of branches in the city, but the Fort one is the most expansive.

Established in 1860, Phillips has the best choice of old prints, engravings, and maps in Mumbai. It also sells many possessions left behind by the British—Staffordshire and East India Company china, old jewelry, crystal, lacquerware, and sterling silver.

You'll find a wonderful selection of rare Indian and French perfumes stored in huge decanters here. It also stocks agar wood, a rare incense base, a kilo of which costs as much as a night at the Taj Mahal hotel. Sandalwood oil is another fragrance sold here.

Very prompt and efficient, Amrapali Creations usually makes Indian clothes, such as salwar kameez and sari blouses, but if you give them a sample to copy they can make you a Western-style outfit.

Exotic home furnishings and fabrics for the home are sold by the meter here. There's lots of expensive silk, and they'll organize tailoring for you.

The Mumbai branch of this government-owned chain is a decent place to buy souvenirs—though you won't be doing any bargaining, as all prices are fixed (and likely more than you'll pay elsewhere). It's therefore a good way to establish an upper bound for prices before you do any haggling in other places. It's packed with textiles, carvings, and myriad other traditional Indian handicrafts from all over the country, and there's a small but imaginative assortment of Indian costumes for kids, and traditional Indian toys. Mirror-work elephants, Indian dolls, wood and cane doll furniture, tiny brass tea sets, stuffed leather animals, and puppets can all be found on the second floor, as can kurtas and long skirt ensembles in cotton and silk.

In this bustling but tiny flea market you can find exactly what you don't need but have to have—old phonographs, broken nautical instruments, strange toys, dusty chandeliers, furniture, and brass objects ranging from junky knickknacks to valuable antiques and curios. Keep an eye on your purse or wallet and come relaxed—it can be chaotic.

This is a tiny, classy boutique with exquisite silk blouses and shirts, scarves, ties, dupattas (long, thin scarves for draping), and silk-edge purses and wallets.

There's a small but representative selection of Indian handicrafts at reasonable prices here.

Brave bargain-hunters should take a trip to chaotic Daboo Street for all sorts of leather goods.

Here you'll find a superb, unusual collection of handicrafts that includes upside-down incense holders and palm-leaf lampshades. If you're staying in Bandra, you're only 15 or so minutes away.

This pricey store has exclusive men's and women's Indian and Western fashions, and lovely costume jewelry, all by high-profile Indian designers. Ask to see the rare Banarasi silk saris, in rich colors woven with real gold and silver thread.

This store showcases the best of Indian fabrics—khadis (homespun cotton), muslin, vegetable-dyed silks, and embroidered materials. You can find women's clothing (saris, kurtas, skirts, trousers, blouses, and kurtis) as well as men's shirts and kurtas, children's clothes, tablecloths, curtains, cushion covers—and napkins fashioned from these beautiful materials, some of which is also available by the meter. The Fort location is the address to head to—it's in a high-ceilinged, period building, with a wide selection—but there are a number of branches all over the city.

This is a trove of cotton bargains in a long row of open-air stalls, with mounds of colorful, cheap, mainly Western clothing for all ages. The name is completely incongruous—there is nothing fashionable about this street, but the knock-offs are cheap (come prepared to bargain and bargain again). Come around 11 am, when the crowds are thinner and the sun has not yet peaked—and bargain.

This is an elegant gallery in the Fort district, full of works by modern masters like Atul Dodiya and rolling exhibitions.

This old and trustworthy family-run optician has good frame choices.

All sorts of housewares, including linens, pottery, and brass, are on offer here. There's one in Juhu, opposite the Marriott Hotel, and one in Lower Parel.

In the Taj Mahal hotel, this store sells quality silks, as does the Burlington store here. Both stores are convenient if you're staying here or nearby and need something quickly, but they are highly touristy and overpriced. Try something farther afield if you want to shop like a local.

Fine cotton and silk can be made into excellent shirts, trousers, or women's outfits in one day if need be. The store also sells ready-made women's clothing. There are two shops named Khubsons, back to back; make sure you have the right one (the one closer to Regal Cinema).

If you need some specs, a long-standing and reliable name in the eyewear business is Lawrence and Mayo. The main branch of this trusted brand is in Fort.

Starting from S.V. Road in Bandra all the way through a seemingly endless strip of stores, stalls, and tables of goods, you can bargain on belt buckles here one minute, and then pick up a designer dress on sale the next. It's also one of the more decent strips in the city to buy women's shoes.

A conveniently located, reasonable, and efficient eyeglass outlet.

You'll find wonderful silver jewelry from all over India here, and there are some good bargains.

Regal silks from Mysore, in the southern state of Karnataka, are available here.

The Mumbai branch of the famous Chennai store has a fair selection of classic silk saris. Have a look at the authentic gold-embroidered saris from Kanchipuram, in Tamil Nadu, as well as the Bangalore saris and the uncut silk sold by the meter.

Short for On My Own, OMO is a small, out-of-the-way Bandra hotspot for women's cotton clothing, jewelry, and other accessories.

This ever-expanding shopping, entertainment, and dining area in an old mill is an island of prosperity and chic modernity amid slums and industry. The complex is divided into different segments. Phoenix Mills itself has department stores like Big Bazaar, outlet clothing shop Pantaloons, and Hamley's. Palladium is the luxury mall with stores like Burberry, Zara, Gucci, Diesel, and Royce, a company that sells high-end Japanese chocolates. Here, too, are a number of clubs (frequented by the teenage and college student set) and the Canvas Laugh Club, showcasing various comics of varying quality on a nightly basis. High Street Phoenix features major international chains. If you get hungry, outlets of Indigo Deli, Burger King, and McDonald's, among many others, await.

This outlet for Raymond Mills, which makes some of India's finest men's suits, can tailor a first-rate suit for about Rs. 8,000 in about a week. During the wedding season (winter) it can get very busy.