How to Shop Like a Local in Mumbai

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If haggling with street vendors is not your style, try going to the mall in Mumbai (Photo: Corbis)

With its daredevil cabbies, never-ending slum, and torrential monsoon rains, Mumbai can be one of the most overwhelming cities on Earth for Westerners.

So it makes sense that this bustling port city rewards a tenacious brand of tourism. Adventurous shoppers willing to brave the controlled madness will find a host of sprawling street markets and boutiques selling chic and cheap clothes and accessories — including the elegant kurtis (tunics) and billowy salwar pants worn by stylish millennials in Mumbai.

But buyers beware: Fast-fashion shopping in Mumbai requires planning. Foreigners are easy marks for some taxi drivers, who deliver tourists to a store and get a kickback based on what the tourists buy. So if a cabbie grills you about what you shelled out while in a store, find another cabbie. Your best bet is to arrange for a car through your hotel, then be firm about where you want to be driven — hotel drivers might also have money-making agendas, and they’re harder to detect.

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A street vendor in Mumbai (Photo: AP)

Once you’re out on the town, be prepared to haggle. Inflating prices is practically a sport in Mumbai’s markets and shops, so go in knowing that you can start haggling at half the quoted price. Drive a hard bargain, but keep in mind that haggling too aggressively can sometimes backfire. Many merchants in Mumbai are living at or just above the poverty line, and they can get justifiably miffed if you take the friendly back-and-forth too far. Maintain a bit of perspective — eight bucks is a fair price for a pair of handmade leather sandals in any country.

And if haggling leaves a bad taste in your mouth, skip it. With prices on goods probably much lower than you’re accustomed to, there’s little chance you’ll walk away feeling taken. Here are a handful of haunts for fashion-minded shoppers.

Related: 8 Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me Before I Went to India

Cottons

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Shop like a local AND dress like one at Cottons. (Photo: Cottons)

Cottons is a Jaipur-based company that deals in fair trade and sustainably sourced clothing, and it boasts the best collection of daily wear in town. It’s basically the Gap of India. Colorful, cotton kurtas (thigh-length tunics), pants, jackets, and scarves that meld traditional Indian silhouettes with modern sensibilities — there’s a noticeable dearth of fussy metallic fabrics and beads — fill the two-story, sun-drenched store in Mumbai’s fashionable Bandra neighborhood.

Address: St. Sebastian Road, Near Mehboob Studio, Bandra (West); 022-26518408

Cotton On

It’s tiny and chaotic. But this hole-in-the-wall boutique, which is (confusingly) just around the corner from Cottons in Bandra, is worth hitting up for cheaply priced embroidered tops, kurtas, and dresses. It also offers an unwieldy collection of exported designer duds, from brands including River Island, Zara, and Esprit. The racks are packed, the staff is straight-faced, and there’s no dressing room. But for confident, patient shoppers, there are megadeals to be claimed.

Address: St. Sebastian Road, next to Barista, Bandra Reclamation, Bandra (West)

Linking Road

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Shopping on Linking Road is part of the Mumbai experience (Photo: Ruby Goes/Flickr)

Walls of leather thong sandals, beaded necklaces, and embroidered purses in every vibrant color imaginable line the zillions of vendor stands bordering Linking Road, one of Mumbai’s most heavily trafficked commercial areas. Prices here are famously low — haggling over beautiful, all-leather purses started at $10 on our last trip — and almost criminally low if you have a knack for haggling. Wear comfy shoes, and guard your cash in this open-air gold mine.

Address: Linking Road, Bandra

FabIndia

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Men and women sort through colorful fabrics (Photo: Corbis Images)

Churidars (thin-cut pants), silk dupattas (shawls), and saris of all stripes are in store at this four-story ode to native Indian style. The company’s mission of bringing handcrafted merch made in India’s rural regions to the nation’s urbanites is evident throughout the store. FabIndia also sells to the U.S. on its website. So should you regret not buying that fetching Punjabi salwar suit, you can snag it online later.

Address: DB Mall, JVPD Scheme, Andheri (West)

Joy Shoes

Score hand-stitched (not glued) leather sandals at Joy Shoes, a swanky little footwear depot located inside the even swankier Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. The shop’s styles, which encompass modern and traditional Indian looks, include iconic toe-ringed leather chappals (slip-ons). Shoes here are pricier than facsimiles you’ll find in Mumbai’s many markets. But you pay for the quality and the stellar selection. Grab a drink at the bar bordering the hotel’s ultra-glamorous pool on your way out.

Address: Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Apollo Bunder

Related: Not Just for Jeeps: Out-of-the-Ordinary Safaris in India

Bombay Electric

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Mumbai’s Bombay Electric entrance (Photo: Bombay Electric)

Bombay Electric, Mumbai’s answer to Barneys New York (with lower prices), is a fashion-lover’s dream. The gorgeous shop corrals clothes and accessories from some of India’s edgiest designers. Choose from treasures that include vintage brocade saris, color-blocked pashminas, avant-garde silk jackets and — for the truly daring — silk drop-crotch track pants handmade by artisans in India’s Kutch region.

Address: 1 Reay House, Best Marg, Colaba

Colaba Causeway

After witnessing the best in avant-garde Indian design at Bombay Electric, mosey a few blocks over to the Colaba Causeway, one of Mumbai’s smallest — but reliably best — permanent markets. Vendors who set up shop on the sidewalk and inside Hobbit, hole-sized storefronts sell everything from hand-tooled leather shoes, bags, and salwar pants (which will, it should be noted, disintegrate after a dozen washes, but at $2 each, who cares?) to replica antiquities and racks of glittering gold and beaded costume jewelry.

Address: Shahid Bhagat Singh Road, Colaba

D. Popli & Sons

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A wide variety of bangle bracelets (Photo: Superkimbo/Flickr)

This tiny, family-owned jewelry shop, which launched in 1928, deals in fine jewelry and costume pieces that celebrate India’s distinctive design heritage. Explore glass cases and drawers filled with necklaces, rings, brooches, semiprecious stone pieces, and every style of bangle bracelet imaginable. Traditional Indian jewelry (think gold and intricate) is Popli’s bread-and-butter. But there’s plenty here to tempt contemporary design lovers, too.

Address: Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Marg, Apollo Bandar, Colaba

WATCH: Mumbai’s Street Food

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