I have already told you how much I hate shopping. Now I will give you Bangalore Shopping Guide for Clothes- from viewpoint of one who wants to be done with shopping quickly.
No I lie. I am a terrible quick shopper. When shopping, I will spend forever, conflicted between two exact same tops one costing Rs. 50 and the other Rs 5000..... easy decision you say? No. I would have to spent one hour trying to get the catch, will fail and eventually buy the Rs 50 one to discover that it was actually kids shorts or something. I actually do own one kids nehru jacket that I wore as sleeveless buttoned shirt for longest time. Of course I dint realize it was kids nehru jacket, so I wasn't being ironic cool or anything. I only realised my buttoned sleeveless shirt was actually a kid;s nehru jacket when I went back and saw it displayed on a boy sized mannequin. Ok long ramble later- I will give you Bangalore Shopping Guide from perspective of person who wants very badly to be a quick shopper- but will fail.
So what does Bangalore offer to the shopper?
Malls malls and more malls - The Garuda/ Forum variety: There is usually not much to differentiate one mall from the other so your decision should be based on the distance from you. These malls will have everything including one westside, one shopperstop, one or two high end stores, one roller coster plus bowling arcade plus house of horrors plus African tiger safari.
(quick quiz: which of the above does forum/garuda actually have? quick quiz 2: Do african tigers exist?)
So this seems like the best bet for the quick shopper. The added attractions of food courts and beauty salons and nail parlours offer comforting distractions from tasks at hand. Also- yaay restrooms!
Lido mall and Fun cinemas mall: These are the malls that are not really malls but cinema theaters with malls attached to them. They claim that they cater to a niche crowd. That is not you (the harried shopper) so give these a miss.
Bombay stores, Pantaloon, Lifestyle: Now if you are serious about your shopping mission, it might make sense to skip the Garuda/Forum type mall and attack this kind. There are no food courts, no person doing cartwheels, no cinema theater to distract you. It is also less crowded since everyone else is in another mall to watch cartwheels or african tigers. However - changing rooms are fewer and less comfy and if you don't like anything there you are going to have to walk all the way to one of the other places in the list. And yes yaay! restrooms
Commercial Street: Commercial Street is fun. It is unlikely that any productive shopping will get done, but you can walk about in the open, no ac, no tinkly music. You can eat popcorn, blow bubbles, pop into Bhagatram, eat gulab jamoon, peer into stores and cluck cluck about rubbish people will wear, then you will reach Fab India where you will pick up two items that will fade and be demoted to dish rags in exactly 2.3 months and then you will reach westside where you will pick up one more item that you will give your maid in 4.3 months and you are done.
Brigade Road: This is silly. I don't know why you would shop here. It will be crazy crowded and you will have to walk from branded store to branded store and be stared at and clucked at by all manner of sales peoples. On the other hand like commercial street you can walk in the open minus ac and tinkly music and you could get lost in the bookstores and realise that you were a very shallow person for having thought you needed clothes in the first place.
Malleswaram 8th cross and/or Sampige road: Again no tinkly music, but you will wish you had AC. There are tons of stores to chose from.You have the shops where you can haggle and ac branded stores- where you don't. You have to be prepared to walk about laden with bags and deal with honking traffic and crowded pavements. While food options are many, they will require jostling and pushing and yelling orders. (Ok I lie. Again. These days you have lines and coupons. It is only more depressing). Also sales peoples in Malleswaram brand outlets are a little more bored and a little more determined to make you wait longer than their counterparts in "town" and the yelling screaming haggling shop peoples are little more vicious and persuasive than their counterparts anywhere.
If you are a sensible person you will stay at home and stitch your own clothes.
No I lie. I am a terrible quick shopper. When shopping, I will spend forever, conflicted between two exact same tops one costing Rs. 50 and the other Rs 5000..... easy decision you say? No. I would have to spent one hour trying to get the catch, will fail and eventually buy the Rs 50 one to discover that it was actually kids shorts or something. I actually do own one kids nehru jacket that I wore as sleeveless buttoned shirt for longest time. Of course I dint realize it was kids nehru jacket, so I wasn't being ironic cool or anything. I only realised my buttoned sleeveless shirt was actually a kid;s nehru jacket when I went back and saw it displayed on a boy sized mannequin. Ok long ramble later- I will give you Bangalore Shopping Guide from perspective of person who wants very badly to be a quick shopper- but will fail.
So what does Bangalore offer to the shopper?
Malls malls and more malls - The Garuda/ Forum variety: There is usually not much to differentiate one mall from the other so your decision should be based on the distance from you. These malls will have everything including one westside, one shopperstop, one or two high end stores, one roller coster plus bowling arcade plus house of horrors plus African tiger safari.
(quick quiz: which of the above does forum/garuda actually have? quick quiz 2: Do african tigers exist?)
So this seems like the best bet for the quick shopper. The added attractions of food courts and beauty salons and nail parlours offer comforting distractions from tasks at hand. Also- yaay restrooms!
Lido mall and Fun cinemas mall: These are the malls that are not really malls but cinema theaters with malls attached to them. They claim that they cater to a niche crowd. That is not you (the harried shopper) so give these a miss.
Bombay stores, Pantaloon, Lifestyle: Now if you are serious about your shopping mission, it might make sense to skip the Garuda/Forum type mall and attack this kind. There are no food courts, no person doing cartwheels, no cinema theater to distract you. It is also less crowded since everyone else is in another mall to watch cartwheels or african tigers. However - changing rooms are fewer and less comfy and if you don't like anything there you are going to have to walk all the way to one of the other places in the list. And yes yaay! restrooms
Commercial Street: Commercial Street is fun. It is unlikely that any productive shopping will get done, but you can walk about in the open, no ac, no tinkly music. You can eat popcorn, blow bubbles, pop into Bhagatram, eat gulab jamoon, peer into stores and cluck cluck about rubbish people will wear, then you will reach Fab India where you will pick up two items that will fade and be demoted to dish rags in exactly 2.3 months and then you will reach westside where you will pick up one more item that you will give your maid in 4.3 months and you are done.
Brigade Road: This is silly. I don't know why you would shop here. It will be crazy crowded and you will have to walk from branded store to branded store and be stared at and clucked at by all manner of sales peoples. On the other hand like commercial street you can walk in the open minus ac and tinkly music and you could get lost in the bookstores and realise that you were a very shallow person for having thought you needed clothes in the first place.
Malleswaram 8th cross and/or Sampige road: Again no tinkly music, but you will wish you had AC. There are tons of stores to chose from.You have the shops where you can haggle and ac branded stores- where you don't. You have to be prepared to walk about laden with bags and deal with honking traffic and crowded pavements. While food options are many, they will require jostling and pushing and yelling orders. (Ok I lie. Again. These days you have lines and coupons. It is only more depressing). Also sales peoples in Malleswaram brand outlets are a little more bored and a little more determined to make you wait longer than their counterparts in "town" and the yelling screaming haggling shop peoples are little more vicious and persuasive than their counterparts anywhere.
If you are a sensible person you will stay at home and stitch your own clothes.
