The best fashion and gift stores Rajasthan

Timetable

Stores generally open from 10am to 8pm and are open 7 days a week. Smaller shops may have longer opening hours.

Budget & Tips

With the exception of chain stores (Fabindia, international brands) and shops selling luxury goods, you will have to pay in cash.

Sales

There is no official sales period in India. Traditionally, stores clear their stocks at the end of the year, after the Diwali festival. Small shops never have sales.

What's very local

With the exception of chain stores, you can negotiate prices. In fact, this is the rule. To haggle properly, set a maximum price you don't want to exceed and show only limited interest in the item you want. Put forward all the objective or subjective arguments that could justify a price reduction (the color you don't like, a manufacturing defect, poor finishing...). The early morning is the best time to make good deals, because merchants think that their first sale will bring them luck for the rest of the day.

Tourist traps

Many merchants abuse the naivety of tourists by trying to sell them fake items at the price of the real thing, new items at the price of the old. We do not count the fake pashminas and fake cashmere offered at gold prices. The scarves are certainly soft to the touch, but they are not pashmina. Pashmina is not a soft wool and that is why it is mixed with silk. Also beware of fake antiques, which are aged by leaving new items out in the open and sandblasting them. For handicrafts, nothing beats buying directly from the artisan.

In Jaipur, the gemstone capital of India, fake or inferior stones are commonplace. Some jewelers do not hesitate to produce false certificates of origin. Unless you are an expert yourself, do not hesitate to have the stones appraised by an independent laboratory before buying them.

Scams in the trade of souvenirs and handicrafts are commonplace and Indians do not see the harm in being dishonest. They consider that if you buy their bullshit, you are in charge