Jozi Oriental Plaza
With 360 stores in the Oriental Plaza, you will find a unique shopping experience, which drives on tradition and culture. The Oriental Plaza has been rooted in the very heart of Johannesburg since the 1970s.
Rounded up by the security forces during the apartheid era, Indian traders were driven out of Page view’s 14th street to where Oriental Plaza is located presently and they had to regroup in order to re-endear themselves to their loyal customers. The cornerstone of the success of the mall is that it provides goods that cannot be found anywhere in the city.
The Plaza provides a delicate balance between western-type shopping and craft markets in the city centre. Here you can bargain for fabric, curtaining and all manner of ocher useful stuff. It is also a prime shopping destination if you are looking to buy unique artifacts, textiles, jewellery, leather goods and crafts. Prices are very reasonable, so funnily enough the authenticity of the goods sometimes become questionable. Fragrant airs of curry and incense add to the illusion of being in an Eastern bazaar.
Crocodile River Ramble
When most people think of greater Johannesburg they see great swathes of townhouses and car-choked roads. But there is a heart to the city, a heart that still pulses with one of the last remaining green tracts of the Highveld’s much-vaunted ridges of white waters.
The ramble flows through Honeydew and Muldersdrift, where decades ago some wise people escaped suburbia and created a kind of artsy, crafty community along the Crocodile River. For the most part they were a talented bunch, and they attracted visitors who were willing to pay them to continue that lifestyle. It's a lovely area, full of restaurants, guesthouses and yes, lots of arty-crafty things.
By David Bristow