Speciality stores are springing up everywhere. From mom and pop to megastores – there’s a price tag on every passion. Claire Bezuidenhout, Langley Kirkwood and Matthew Krouse went shopping
Western Cape
Old Mill Guest Cottage, Gallery and Gift Shop: Some of the finest Karoo art for sale alongside home-grown herb teas, Robertson wines, handmade soaps and the local Wildebraam liqueur make this a worthwhile stop along the N2. Weary Garden Route travellers can also inject some fine coffee into their systems, enjoy a bite to eat, or spend the night. 241 and 243 Voortrek Street, Swellendam. Tel. (028) 514E2790.
Montebello Design Centre:The result of a financial and property bequest by Cecil Michaelis. The project is situated in the farm buildings of the historic site of Montebello in Newlands. The place has a colourful history, being the birthplace of Ohlsson’s Brewery. On-site craft and design studios produce sculpture, household items, weaving and ceramics, and some of the most intricate greeting cards around. 31 Newlands Ave, Newlands, Cape Town. Tel (021) 686E7115.
Die Skuurtjie: This is not your run-of- the-mill farm stall, so if you venture along the Robertson Wine Route, be sure to stop in. You can find an assortment of dried fruit, honey, pickles and “Medicinal Witblits”, as well as braais made from the rims of car wheels and homemade wine cork-in-paraffin fire- lighters. Find it on the R60 between Robertson and Worcester.
Africa Nova: If you find local the lekker-ist, you dare not bypass this store. It boasts hand-carved and painted wooden toys, from helicopters and cars to cellphones, cane furniture from Malawi, local potato-printed fabrics, hand- painted Zimbabwean pottery and much more. It is host to a classy range of Soulful South African Christmas trees, cards and decorations. About time too. Main Road, Hout Bay. Tel. (021) 790E4454.
Cinnamon Home Accents: If you’re shopping for the home, this fine new lifestyle store is overflowing with good taste and Indian teak furniture. It also stocks beaded picture frames and candle-holders, Indian bed linen and other original odds and ends, like their silver and gold lacquered trays. 1 Victoria Avenue, Hout Bay. Tel. (021) 790E7100.
Constantia Village: Even if you’re not a mall rat, the newly renovated Village feels extremely spacious and un-mall- like. But be warned – it’s jam-packed with an amazing array of up-market stores that are pretty hard to stay out of, and there’s something for everyone. You can browse and sip at the Exclusives-Seattle Coffee Collaboration before you let loose, and when you’ve reached your credit card limit, keep some cash handy for some chow across the parking lot at Melissa’s. Or, if you’re broke by then, simply stand drooling in front of their enormous glass cheese fridge. Spaanschmat Road, Constantia.
Bug Zoo: The coolest clothing for kids in the Cape. If you need a refreshing break from over-dye, this is the place to get to. Baby and kids’ clothes that are cute and funky, but timeless and durable enough to become cool hand-me-downs. V&A Waterfront and Victoria Avenue, Hout Bay. Tel. (021) 790E2555.
Annie’s Ceramic Studio: Annie Leslie’s ceramics are hand-thrown on the premises, and if her vibrant designs of just about everything that can possibly be made in ceramic (including door-knobs, tiles and wash-basins) are not enough for you, then she will design to order to your own taste. And to broaden your creative horizons, you can participate in the process from start to finish. 58 Main Road, Kalk Bay. Tel. (021) 788E6312.
City Living: A contemporary furniture store with a strong original identity. They specialise in white and colour- washed wooden furniture, but have a great variety of urban niceties and necessities besides. Locally made Alien wood place mats, Madiba fridge magnets, Indonesian rainsticks, wind chimes and hand-painted trays for a start. 8 Kloof Street, Cape Town. Tel. (021) 424E9424.
Bruce Tait Antiques a.k.a. Kitsch & Collectables: Down Kloof Street you’ll find one of the most enjoyable and stimulating shopping experiences in the country. The place greets one with a “Nudists Welcome” sign on the door. It sets the mood for an anything-goes adventure into a wonderland of antiques, bizarre trinkets, costumes, wigs, old and new South African flags and memorabilia, from prints of Hendrik Verwoerd to framed 1994 election ballot papers. Oh, yes; you can grab a few free condoms too. Tel. (021) 422E1567.
Kwazulu-Natal
K Haribhai’s Spice Emporium: When the late Mr K Haribhai started trading potatoes and onions in Verulam, Tongaat, Stanger and other areas on the north coast in 1927, the thought that one day his small entrepreneurial fresh produce venture would become a phenomenally successful wholesale importing company, must have seemed as foreign as a breyani without masala. K Haribhai’s is overstocked with every possibly conceivable Eastern condiment available on the planet and a few that aren’t. Umpteen curry blends, jasmine, saffron, cardamom and aniseed, dried local and imported fruit, bundles of thick sticky dates, nuts, atta, murkhi, incense, after-dinner palate fresheners (that could give toothpastes a bad name) and top modern and traditional utensils ensure a culinary ascension the second you head through the doors. 31 Pine Street, Durban. Tel: (031) 332E6662.
Frozen Bananas: Trash glam hopefuls licked up in antique lace hanging out with tangerine “cheese” heavyweights is the propulsion for style shepherdess Kevin Ellis’s merry-go-round of fashion nougat. Second-time-round clothing and accessories, mostly imported and reworked with rakish eccentricity litter the shop; while mothers complain that he does not accept plastic and nervous passers-by avoid eye contact with the boy in the yellow submarine print hotpants. Bye bye Kitty, hello Katty, an impressive array of overweening evening and big-night-out packaging for the religious party panthers. Alterations to garments can also be arranged and the prices are more than reasonable, considering. The Stables, Durban. Tel. 082E950E2851.
Victoria Street Market: Major trends towards traditional and herbal remedies to cure ailments of the physical, spiritual and emotional kind have turned the surrounding concrete of the Vic Market into an arcane exhibition of Inyanga ingredients. Roots from icancane and ihlamvu give strength to women and secures virility to men who are impotent and infertile; ingcina is burnt to guarantee commercial and domestic success; ilabatheka for blood purification, treatment of certain diseases and prevention of fear and inhlanhla, used as an emetic, will apparently make a man famous and have women handing him their phone numbers. These are all sold by these percipients of the human psyche. Victoria Street, Durban. For more info, contact The Tourist Junction. Tel. (031) 304E4934.
Amajazi: Hidden away among the vegetable vendors and fake gold jewellery hustlers of Pinetown’s inner business sector, awaits a clothing shop that could out-hip the brains behind the Ijusi magazine. Unassuming and untainted by prissy aluminium fixtures, air-conditioned dressing rooms or security monitors, Amajazi offers a fine selection of suits for the old-fashioned African dandy. Second-hand well sewn, mostly men’s clothes sweat in anticipation of being worn again. Smelling of historical political remnants, hats and shoes can also be bartered for if you can survive the hustle for the cheapo T-shirts. Off Crompton Street, Pinetown. Tel. (031) 707E4143.
African Arts Centre: Colourful original pieces produced by local artists from around the province are on sale for Christmas. Hand-painted wooden mobiles, candlesticks, beaded decorations and intricate prints adorn Durban’s favourite indigenous craft niche. The Rorke’s Drift Weaving Centre’s felicitation of ornamental tapestries and rugs and handpainted wall hangings, cloths and cushion covers from the Mapula Project and Karossworkers are favourable gifts and self-indulgences for lovers of comfortable African interior design. Tourist Junction, 160 Pine Street, Durban. Tel: (031) 304E7915.
The Old Vicarage: Poetic functionality can be sourced at this collaborative of three antique dealers in suburban Morningside. A preponderance of high-quality specialities and collectables housed in various rooms with a herb garden in the back and a bohemian restaurant on the side, cater for the more discerning tastes. Keith Bunyan and Vivienne Hilton send up Fifties kitsch and paraphernalia, art deco pieces, costume jewellery and “nora” vintage costumes into the realm of the lurid. The only antiquarian book-dealer in Durban, Ike Mayott sells dusty old first editions, early African and back issues of ADA and Staffrider, also providing full book restoration and a binding service. Charles Kerr of Colonial Trading fame pacifies Victorian and Edwardian furniture fundies interspersed with 1930’s ceramics, collectable, old bakelite radios, advertising paraphernalia and militaria. 16 Windermere Road, Durban. Tel: (031) 312E5050.
Gauteng
Bizarre Music: Musical pursuits can become an obsession, so why spend hundreds on your ever-changing tastes when you can grab what others have cast off? Having moved across town from Yeoville, well-known entrepreneur Merle Jacobs has established a little patch of second-hand music heaven in flush Rosebank. We found a nice selection of not-yet-stale titles by trendy international dance labels, in mint condition. Also a good place to pick up pamphlets for just about every alternative party in town and country, as well as a few good garments to wear when you go there. Shop 33A Mutual Square, Oxford Road, Rosebank. Tel: (011) 442E6652.
CD Wherehouse: It’s legendary – the store that opened its doors in Hillbrow (as Hillbrow Records) sometime in the Seventies continues to do a booming trade today. The well-mannered, sexy shop-floor attendants have been allocated sections in tune with their interests. So here you get good service, while browsing for those rarities you only read about in foreign magazines. Don’t ignore their sale rack – brimming with obscure wonders.Branches in Rosebank and Sandton and soon to open in Cape Town. Tel: (011) 788 9831.
Jaipur: To the west of the city in Melville, tucked away in the back of the Bamboo shopping centre – considered a masterpiece of architectural refurbishment – you can obtain the finest in eastern food accessories. Situated in this former petrol station and car workshop, Jaipur packages spices with their own label and sells an array of Indian stainless steel containers now elevated from their working class origins to haute design. Prettily bottled pickles range from various oddly shaped chillies to Brussels sprouts. Ancient bureaus overflow with dry produce, including brown basmati rice. But be prepared, for such exotic offerings come with a price. Bamboo Centre, Rustenburg Rd, Melville, Tel (011) 482E7999.
Look & Listen Warehouse: The other contender for the biggest music selection in the land. Look & Listen have now established their superstores in out-of- the-way places like the East Rand Mall and Atterbury Valuemart in Pretoria (touted as the biggest in the southern hemisphere). Here they’ve found space enough to display their breathtaking CD selection. The upper floors of these two- storey wonders house a vast selection of videos. We found a copy of the off-beat gay feature Lilies by John Greyson – perfect for a cryptic sister! Look and listen no further.Stores in Fourways, Hillbrow, Hyde Park, East Rand Mall, Durban and Pretoria. Tel (011) 325E4237.
Rosebank Street Market: On Sundays on the corner of Cradock and Biermann Aves you’ll find a committed set of used household object collectors selling old kitchenware that could amount to hundreds if it arrived on the shelves of the more exclusive antique shops in town. Don’t hesitate, just go there, and you’ll find oddities to do your lifestyle passion proud. We found an old metal juice squeezer for a mere R25, and a fabulous Fifties ashtray for R20 that would look at home in a museum.
Shalimar Delights: If you’re eating out at friends, then why not take along these sweet, exotic offerings instead of a dowdy box of old Black Magic? Shalimar Delights is a well-established secret, even among non-Asians who’ve discovered what local Indians do in times of joy. Perfect burfi, halwa and jalebis look like childhood fantasies of the best party on earth. Nuts, brightly coloured coconut and silver almonds crown these riches that’ll play havoc with the cholesterol. This could ruin your life – in the nicest way possible! 228 Main Road, Fordsburg, Tel (011) 832E1675.
The Tea Gallery: Tea drinking nutters will take strength from this move away from coffee to their leaf of choice. Five-star decor and tip-top service abounds. In a corner you can find tea-time paraphernalia like cake lifters, cake platters and 16 varieties of fine teas labelled by the concern, including oolong, Japanese green mango and strawberry teas. Upper Level, Silver Birch restaurant, Lifestyle Nursery centre, DF Malan Drive, Randpark Ridge. Tel: (011) 807E3915.
Seekers Travel World: You’ll be amazed at what really goes on in the far north. This one-stop travel boutique is a mall within a mall. “The world’s largest travel centre” houses kiosks of various airlines, the Luggage Factory, the Mugg and Bean coffee shop and a branch of Exclusive Books showing a full range of travel handbooks. A startling, unusual design provides the setting for friendly service. Fourways Crossing, Shop G22, William Nicol Highway, Fourways Tel (011) 790E0000.
Yat Kee Chinese Supermarket: Cyrildene’s bustling Chinatown boasts at least five oriental supermarkets, shelves of stuff you’d expect to find preserved in bottles at a university anatomical department. It’s not all unfathomable though – popular oriental ingredients include an array of dried mushrooms, sake bottles, quaint labelled sauces and frozen steam dumplings that take mere minutes to spring to life. Branches in Johannesburg and Pretoria. 16A Derrick Avenue, Cyrildene. Tel: (011) 615E3911.
Shunting Yard/Portas: If you collect toy trains, or have cottoned on to the merits of Mediterranean cuisine, this is the place to buy genuine salted capers, anchovies, varieties of olives and preserved vine leaves. Established in 1896, this is Johannesburg’s ultimate mom and pop fusion store – where its proprietor, a toy train enthusiast who has been collecting since 1943, flogs a wholesome list of European and North African edibles alongside miniatures of the bullet express, and little castles to place in the diorama of your model train line. Galleria Shopping Centre, Shop No 2, Cradock Ave, Rosebank.