Marisa Milanese
Where to find the coolest buys
Last spring, tour operator Cox & Kings organized a two-week itinerary in India for 15 women pals celebrating a 60th birthday. The trip was, according to one in the group, “shopping galore.” They bought dhuri rugs in Madurai. They picked up jewelry in Chinai. And then they landed in Kochi (nee Cochin), an historic port city on the Malabar coast that also happens to offer an astounding array of colonial antiques. The women bought brass bowls and bronze statuettes. One, who was remodeling her house, snatched up tropical hardwood doors, gateways, columns, and furniture.
“The tour guide was flabbergasted,” said one. “She’d never seen a group buy so much.”
Of course, you don’t have to travel farther than your local mall or Target Superstore to find global goods. And computer mice handle the traveling for Web shoppers, who are projected to spend $115 billion online this year. But according to the International Trade Administration’s Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, Americans traveling overseas take their shopping seriously. Indeed, more than twice as many hit the stores than visit a cultural heritage sight or a museum. These shoppers seem to understand that the mall and the Web are unsatisfying substitutes for not only finding the right item, but finding it in the right place...
Where to find the coolest buys
Last spring, tour operator Cox & Kings organized a two-week itinerary in India for 15 women pals celebrating a 60th birthday. The trip was, according to one in the group, “shopping galore.” They bought dhuri rugs in Madurai. They picked up jewelry in Chinai. And then they landed in Kochi (nee Cochin), an historic port city on the Malabar coast that also happens to offer an astounding array of colonial antiques. The women bought brass bowls and bronze statuettes. One, who was remodeling her house, snatched up tropical hardwood doors, gateways, columns, and furniture.
“The tour guide was flabbergasted,” said one. “She’d never seen a group buy so much.”
Of course, you don’t have to travel farther than your local mall or Target Superstore to find global goods. And computer mice handle the traveling for Web shoppers, who are projected to spend $115 billion online this year. But according to the International Trade Administration’s Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, Americans traveling overseas take their shopping seriously. Indeed, more than twice as many hit the stores than visit a cultural heritage sight or a museum. These shoppers seem to understand that the mall and the Web are unsatisfying substitutes for not only finding the right item, but finding it in the right place...
Marisa Milanese Where to find the coolest buys Last spring, tour operator Cox & Kings organized a two-week itinerary in India for 15 women pals celebra... more
UNRANKED
CURRENT SCORE
less stats more stats2.47
Rank (best ever) 56
Score (all time) 1084.00
Created 07/28/08
Views 1034
Votes [disabled]
view list history
1
Antique Furniture
Kochi, India
As a rule, port cities always make some of the most exciting shopping destinations. This is especially true of Kochi (nee Cochin) in Kerala, India, which has been governed over the years by the Portuguese, Dutch and British, all of whose architectural vestiges can be found throughout the city. For gorgeous colonial furniture, Nathaniel Waring, president of tour operator Cox & Kings USA, guides his clients toward Jew Town Street, which hawks a huge array of tropical wood furnishings from the mansions of erstwhile traders.
2
Bespoke Suits
Savile Row, London, England
If bespoke tailoring is like having your portrait painted in cloth—as John Hitchcock, managing director of tailor house Anderson and Sheppard has said—then the tailors of Savile Row are veritable Michelangelos. Since Henry Poole created a storefront for his father’s tailoring workshop in the mid 19th century, the tailors along this street in London’s Mayfair District have labored in workrooms that lack the “arrogance, desperation, and slickness” of fashion stores, according to James Sherwood, author of “The London Cut: Savile Row Bespoke Tailoring.” Bespoke differs from couture in that tailors use no preexisting patterns, and the resulting suit is a veritable extension of your body and even, some say, your soul: “A man's relationship with his tailor is intimate,” says Sherwood. “Apart from his wife, mistress or boyfriend, who else but the tailor sees a man in his underwear?”
3
Ceramics
Bizen, Japan
Located in Okoyama—about 100 miles east of Hirshoma—the small, easily navigable town of Bizen is one of the country’s six ancient kiln sites. Here, local potters have been producing the highly collectible Bizen ware for more than 1000 years. Fashioned from unglazed iron-rich clay, which enhances its deep red and orange hues, the stoneware is patiently fired with red pine wood for about two weeks.
4
Designer Clothing
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Driven by the country’s recent fashion renaissance, tour operator Cox & Kings added a two-day Sao Paulo stop to its Brazil itineraries last year: “We say, ‘Don’t think of Sao Paulo as only a connecting point to Rio or to the Amazon,’” says Nathaniel Waring, president of Cox & Kings USA. “The city has got by far the best shopping in the country.” In the fashionable Jardins district, specifically within a four-block radius of the four-year-old Fasano Hotel, you’ll find the storefronts of top Brazilian designers, including Glória Coelho and Reinaldo Lourenço, alongside more internationally recognized names, such as Armani, Gucci, and Versace.
5
Gems
Bangkok, Thailand
Over the last 20 years, according to Richard W. Wise, a Massachusetts jeweler and author of Secrets of the Gem Trade, Thais have ramped up efforts to buy semi-precious gems from Asia’s most active mines, including those of Burma, Sri Lanka, and Madagascar. Many of the best gems are for sale along Silom Road in Bangkok, but Wise urges caveat emptor. For one, you’ll often pay as much here as you would at home: “Don’t think of them as bargains; think of them as souvenirs,” he says. For another, Thailand’s gem scams have been well-publicized—although perhaps unfairly, says Wise, since gem scams exist across the globe. The Tourism Authority of Thailand advises that you buy from stores with the Jewel Fest Club logo; member stores promise ethical sales and money-back guarantees.
6
Gold/Silver
Lima, Peru
Native Peruvians have been producing precious metal artifacts since several centuries B.C., and today, capital city artisans specialize in elegantly designed silver and gold jewelry. Pamela Lassers of tour company Abercrombie & Kent directs clients toward the boutiques of Lima’s Miraflores district, set on bluffs overlooking surf breaks. Here, too, you’ll find some of the country’s best restaurants.
7
Leather
Florence, Italy
Florence’s leather tradition dates back to the Romans, and even today, according to a recent article in the International Herald Tribune, more than 2,000 firms produce leather goods in the area. The names should ring a bell: Louis Vuitton, Ferragamo, Dior, and Dolce & Gabbana, among others. The neighborhood around leather school Scuola del Cuoio, which lies inside the cloisters of Santa Croce, includes a number of high-quality leather shops. On the other hand, Suzy Gershman, author of the “Born to Shop” guidebook series, recommends hoofing it to The Mall, 30 minutes south of the city, where high-end brands are sold at low prices.
8
Oil Painting Reproductions
Saigon, Vietnam
When broad reforms began to open Vietnam to the world in 1986, the country’s artists, restrained by sanctioned motifs and styles, spread their wings, too. They began to experiment with the techniques of the masters—Van Gogh, Cezanne—but perhaps no one would have predicted that these experiments would result in an explosion of what are, essentially, oil counterfeiters. Indeed, Saigon artists can reproduce any painting—Klimt’s “The Kiss,” Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”—for around $200 on average.
9
Rugs
Grand Bazaar, Istanbul, Turkey
The 4,000-odd shops of Istanbul’s six-century-old Grand Bazaar hock everything from spices to jewelry to water pipes. But Turkish rugs, which tend to be more geometric and richly colored than Persian rugs, abound. The bottom line, says John B. Gregorian, who comes from a family of carpet sellers and recently authored “Oriental Rugs of the Silk Route: Culture, Process & Selection,” says that rug shopping at the Grand Bazaar is as much about the experience as the rug itself. “You’re going to see a lot of rugs. You’re going to meet knowledgeable people who’ve been in the business a long time. You’re going to be treated very well,” he says. “But you’re going to have to pay what you have to pay.”
10
Watches
Geneva, Switzerland
When a 1541 religious edict banned the wearing of jewels in Switzerland, Geneva’s goldsmiths and jewelers turned to watchmaking. Nearly five hundred years later, Swiss timepieces are still the international gold standard. Fabienne Reybaud, author of “Watch: The Ultimate Guide” and a senior editor at Le Figaro, recommends the Rue du Rhone, Geneva’s main shopping district. Here, you’ll find some of the biggest names in watchmaking: Patek Philippe, Bucherer, Piaget, and Cartier. Every real Swiss timepiece bears the “Swiss Made” imprint, which, according to the The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, promises both technical and aesthetic quality.
[source: https://www.forbestraveler.com/luxury/worlds-best-shopping-story.html ]
Not watching this list (get updates on this list).
(all people watching this list)
).
MORE LISTS
Top Ten Deck Accessories
Top Ten Most Popular Sports Car Colors
RECOMMENDED LISTS
COMMENTS
