197 Best Places to Shop in India

A fixed-price government shop, Kairali has a good selection of local handicrafts and curios.

Owned by Oswal Exports, Agra's marble inlay exporter, Kalakriti Agra has exquisite furniture and decor pieces crafted in marble inlay. A section of the expansive showroom houses several handicrafts from around the country, from woodwork to hand embroidery. To the left of the entrance, artisans working on stone for live demos can be observed.

Like an upscale version of the Dilli Haat market, Kalpana has exquisite traditional saris from all over India plus gorgeous Kashmiri shawls.

One of Kerala's largest stores for saris, Kalyan's also has cotton and gorgeous silk by the meter, and men's and women's traditional clothing.

You can often see the artist at work here. Kamal Sharma paints mainly birds and animals on paper, marble, silk, and canvas, in contemporary, experimental, and traditional styles. All the works are for sale. The gallery often holds workshops and rotating exhibits.

Beautiful, if somewhat pricey, salwar-kameez sets in contemporary cuts of traditional fabrics are sold here.

For over three decades, this store has been offering handicrafts collected from around India. Among locally-sourced pieces are wooden and sandstone sculptures as well as tribal paintings. The second floor is dedicated to silver jewelry with stone work.

Though it's not cheap, this is one of the capital's most pleasant and popular markets, with dozens of fine shops selling books, drugs, Ayurvedic cosmetics, clothing, home decorations, imported magazines, and imported foods. The crowd is thick with expats and Delhi intelligentsia, bureaucrats, and politicians. While the shops are closed on Sunday, restaurants and bars are open.

This is a good place for handsome salwar-kameez, some hand-embroidered, and raw fabric sets in great colors and patterns at good prices. The in-house tailor can create a salwar-kameez in as little as four hours starting at ₹600.

Historically, this lane in the Old Pink City was devoted to marble statue cutters, though the area of late has become more generalized. You'll find a variety of clothing and jewelry vendors (accessible through Chandpol gate) scattered inside the area, too, but it's still a prime spot to watch stonecutters create artwork (big and small) in marble. Bargaining is recommended.

Some of the most stunning salwar-kameez fabric sets in India are available here, with color-drenched crêpe dupattas topping off soft, block-printed cottons. They're stacked on shelves upstairs.

This company has been designing jewelry using cut and uncut emeralds and other precious stones since 1862; a special "connoisseur's room" with unique pieces is open only by appointment. Don't miss the little museum display of fantastic 3-D zardozi (embroidered paintings). Some have been encrusted with gems by the master of the technique.

Quaint little Konark Collectables carries handicrafts, curios, antiques, period furniture, and gift items.

This family-run store has been dealing in jewelry, handicrafts, and clothing since it opened in 1974. Pick up Madhya Pradesh's famous Chanderi and Maheshwari saris here, or get the team to stitch other apparels within a couple of hours. The ground floor features a workshop for demonstrations in sandstone carving.

Flamboyant party wear and hand-loomed saris at prices to match; there's another branch at Select CityWalk mall in Saket.

This place is a joy if you love antiques. Woodwork, antiques, leatherwork, and brass furniture comprise the collection here, which also includes unique painted boxes and jharokhas (carved doorways or windows) made of dark wood with brass decoration.

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.

This pricey store stocks stylish clothes, perfumes, accessories, and bric-a-brac from Indian and international designers such as Loewe, Victoria Beckham, and Umrao Jewels. This one's for the deep pocketed---and devoted dreamers.

Starting from the big Bandra West junction, 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.

For those willing to drive through the city’s spidery lanes, LoomKatha (tales of the loom) has a tiny workshop where you can follow linen weavers wielding their looms to craft garments of Himroo and other regional handloom styles. There isn’t a shop per se, but you can buy shawls, material, picture frames, and notepads. Everything can be shipped internationally.

Available here is a wide selection of spices, clearly marked and packed in plastic for travelers with a passion for cooking Indian food. The shop is small but clean and tidy, and clearly caters to a crowd concerned with quality and food safety. The shop has branches on Nai Sarak and Palace Road.

At this chocolate shop and factory, you can take a peek into the chocolate-making process and get a quick lesson on how chocolates are made. Macofa uses cacao beans that grow in the hills around Munnar, which are some of the best in India. The retail counter has freshly made chocolates in many different classic, nutty, and fruity flavors.

If you're willing to brave some chaos, visit the Madanpura area, which is home to many silk retailers and the city's Muslim weavers. Working out of their homes or workshops in the neighborhood, some of them may open their doors for you to peek at live weaving work. Ask your hotel concierge or tour operator for the best route to this area.

Come here for a beautiful array of shawls, bedcovers, cushion covers, and wooden handicrafts. Bargain hard (they will pressure you, but stand your ground) and ignore tales about supplying to global designers.

If negotiating frustrates you, try considering the sales experience performance art.

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

This labyrinthine shop is a treasure trove of all things artistic: traditional miniature paintings done on paper or camel bone (you can also watch the artists at work), intricate pichwais, antiques, wooden and silver furniture, marble artifacts, jewelry, and various objets d'art.

Beautiful silver and gold jewelry, especially necklaces, is in tasteful traditional styles, including gemstone wedding sets.

This store with branches across Delhi has an immense selection of gold and diamond jewelry, along with loose gemstones and a pricey range of polki kundan sets.

In the Cantonment area around the corner from the Radisson, this is a large showroom with a wide selection of fine saris, scarves, bed covers, fabric, and some elaborately worked tapestries. While they primarily work with wholesale orders for saris, retail pieces are available for tourists. They also have a weaving workshop in Sarnath where you can see hand weavers in action.

It looks ordinary, but Mercury is a good place to pick up LPs, Indian classical music, and ghazals (Urdu-language love songs).