Being the commercial capital of the city, Colombo is definitely the place to visit for your shopping spree in Sri Lanka. The Colombo shopping experience can prove to be quite exciting with many malls for souvenir hunting. Here are some places to checkout.
Laksala
The state run-handicrafts emporium in Sri Lanka is called Laksala and has a number of branches all over the country. The one in Colombo is the biggest and the best and is located on 60 York Street. It is open from 09:00 in the morning to 17:00 in the evening. On Saturdays it closes an hour earlier and is closed all day on Sundays. You can pick up anything here and objects made from brass and silverware, wooden artifacts, buffalo horn, natural fibres, and even rush and reed abound. There are also products made from coconut shells, cane, and bamboo as well as toys, pottery, artificial flowers and costume Jewellery.
Majestic City
The main shopping mall on Galle Road is the multi-storey Majestic City in Bambalapittiya. Most shoppers escape the heat of central Colombo by entering its air conditioned portals. There is a cinema on the top floor and a food court in the basement as well as a whole lot of varied shops in between. These sell everything from CD’s, DVD’s, books, clothes, and linen. You can even find a couple of internet cafes there.
Odel
Odel is located at 5 Alexander Place on Lipton Circus in Colombo 7 area. It is Sri Lanka’s best-known branded garment factory outlet. Here, you’ll find garments from international houses like Gap, DKNY,and George, but the labels are removed. It is a classy departmental store that features clothes, accessories, jewelry, shoes, bags, cosmetics, home ware, tea, books, watches, sunglasses, chocolates and candy, toiletries, and a whole lot more. There is an ice cream parlor, hair salon and florist present as well. All in all it’s a true shopping experience.
The Barefoot Gallery
Odel’s closest competition would come from the Barefoot Gallery which is located at 706 Galle Road in Colombo. Although it is not quite the same scale and has less to offer, it is worth visiting with a range of handloom products. Very cheerful, colourful and creative designs grace the handmade artefacts. You can pick up toys, notebooks bound in handloom fabrics, hand-painted wooden boxes, tote bags, skirts and blouses, costume jewellery, table linen and even bed linen.
Cargills Food City
Cargills Food City is rated the third most valuable Brand in Sri Lanka and the most valued Retail Brand in the island according to research conducted by Brand Finance Lanka. Cargills Food City has been recognized for its innovation in taking super marketing to the masses. It has also earned the highest Brand Equity in the Asia Pacific region, with NTUC Fair Price Singapore coming second according to the 2004 survey on Shopper Trends by ACNielsen. On average, 1 transaction is recorded every second at a Cargills Food City outlet in Sri Lanka. Today Cargills Food City is the fastest growing retail network in Sri Lanka spread across 17 districts, topping 120 branches. On average, these outlets record almost 3 million transactions per month. Being the only retail network with its own out-grower network Cargills Food City is proud of its ability to give the highest possible price to suppliers even as it provides nutritious high quality goods to the consumer at the lowest possible price.
Crescat Boulevard
Crescat Boulevard is one of the finest up market shopping malls in Colombo. The retail shops are high-end offering visitors the shopping complex the choice of some of the best products that are on offer in the market. Crescat Boulevard is also known as simply ‘Crescat’ may not be an enormous shopping mall but it definitely is an exciting place to shop. The most important feature of Crescat is its outstanding location. It lies adjacent to The Cinnamon Grand which is a contemporary and chic hotel situated in the heart of Colombo. The shopping mall is connected to the hotel and is positioned a mere 35 kilometres from the Bandaranaike International Airport.
House of Fashion
Popular with both foreigners and locals of every class of society, offering an enormous selection at very affordable prices. Besides clothing, it offers a large range of other items such as toys, sports goods, baby items, bath towels and mats, and even a greater choice for teenagers and adults. It is always a busy place but checkout is very fast and you cannot find a more affordable place.
Liberty Plaza
When it comes to Shopping in Sri Lanka, Liberty Plaza is a name that most certainly worth mentioning. It is a shopping complex located in Colombo 03; it offers a range of retail stores selling some attractive products at affordable prices. Liberty Plaza is a multi-storey shopping complex that is full of relatively small size stores selling a varied range of merchandise. A large number of stores sell goods that are targeted at women and sell ladies products such as clothes, bags, shoes, cosmetics and other accessories. There are quite a number of stores for the gents as well however while children will simply adore the various toy shops and kiddies wear stores. The conveniently located Liberty Plaza attracts many customers due to its record stores that sell the latest in music albums and movies. These items generally come with very affordable price tags. This fully air-conditioned shopping complex also has a Mlesna Tea Counter and Tea Tang outlet where customers can purchase packaged Ceylon tea. Well-known retail outlets at Liberty Plaza include Cotton Collection, Leather collection, Lakehouse bookshop, Hameedias, Antonio, Stone and String Jewellers, and Alankara. There are also a small number of dining options available at Liberty Plaza that offer a variety of dining options.
Mondy
Also found in Colombo selling clothes with unbelievably low prices. The clothes choices here include office wears such as colored leggings, well-costumed attires, trousers, and everything that can be worn in the office. So for everyone looking for their office outfits, Mondy is the right place for you to go
