The Best Way For A Shopping Trip

Hello guys, hope you are all doing well. Today I want to share with you all an interesting thing that most women will like. It is true anyways because I'm about to tell you a best way to go around Tbilisi for a perfect shopping. I can't assure that this is the perfect one to follow but according to me if you follow this route you can very well cover the important places in Tbilisi which are perfect for shopping. But before doing any kind of shopping you must be clear of what you really want to purchase because as you wander through different shops you may very easily forget the items you thought of buying. Before beginning our shopping experience just keep in mind that Tbilisi is not a big city and even if you get lost somewhere you don't have to worry as you can find yourself a plenty of ways to reach back to the place where you began. The people in town are also friendly and will help you in case of any trouble.

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Pekini Street

Shopping in Tbilisi is not a difficult job after all if you are in good touch with the local language. It is not necessary that you must know to speak the language it's enough if you are good enough to understand the language. So let us start our shopping trip from a place near my home. Delisi is my point of departure as it is very close to my home. The first place we are about to visit for shopping is a place near by called Pekini street. You can reach this place very easily by bus from Delisi. You can board a bus numbered 150, 47, etc which will take you to the main street of Tbilisi. You can get into a metro train from the metro station at Delisi and get down at the Technical University station which will also take you to the technical university station. There are also a number of mashruthka's or minivans that will take you to the Pekini street.

Once in Pekini street you will find a lot of shops on both sides of the streets. Whatever kind of shop you need you will find it for sure in the Pekini street. There are some worth mentioning shops such Debenhams which was recently opened. Next to this shop is found a shop River Island which also has a good collection of clothes. If you are looking for a shop with economical clothes you can find them at a shop called "I Love Moda Lux'. More official and elegant clothes can be found at Collins and OVS industries. There are also some of the world renowned shops such as Puma, Reebok, Lotto etc. If you need to buy some jewels there are also some famous stores here such as Delfos, Carla Bissi, an Isralian jewellery shop and so forth. If you want to have a snack as you shop here again you have the famous ice cream shop in Tbilisi - Luca Polarae. I've described about it in brief in one of my previous articles. As you walk down the lane of Pekini you can see some more popular stores for clothing such as the "United colors of Benneton, Mango, Garfield, etc". There are also some other local shops that offers you clothes in a much lesser price than the branded ones. There is a famous watch shop in the Pekini street where you can find some branded watches with a good service. If you really feel hungry after shopping in the streets of Pekini on the parallel street of Pekini are located some of the famous places to eat in Tbilisi such as Texas, Maconald's, New York Burger and also a lane full of delicious Shawarma stores.

Vuzkali District

After finishing your meal here in any of the above mentioned shops you can come to a bus stand that is on the opposite side of the shops. To be more clear you will have to come to a bus stop where buses to Vukzali stops. You can find it by looking at the digital sign board placed near the bus stands. The name will be displayed in English as "Stations Square". It doesn't really matter if it is Stations square I or II. Now you should board a bus number 49 which will take you to Stations Square or Vukzali. Don't worry about where to get down as it is the last stop of the bus. If you don't want to travel by bus then you can travel to Vukzali by metro train. The metro station is a little behind the Mc Donalds and opposite to Adjara bet. Even in metro Vukzali is the last station.

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Once you get down in Vukzal you will be exposed to a bit more crowded area than Tbilisi. This is not a place where you can do some elegant shopping. It is a local bazaar where you can bargain the prices and get some goods for a cheaper price. If you are foreigner never buy an item without bargaining. There are different ways to leave the Vukzali metro station and please be sure that you follow the way I mention or else you must go around a big area to reach the place which you have to visit. Once you get out of the metro train at Vukzali station you will see a stair case. While climbing it you can see a sign board that points a way to the interconnecting metro line do not turn that way. Walk in the opposite direction, this path is short and you will reach the escalator in two minutes.

Getting down the escalator you will leave the metro station where you have to turn to your right which will take you through a series of small shops. The shops are really small that you cannot differentiate between one shop and the other. Mostly you will find shoe stores which displays a wide variety of shoes but remember there is no guarantee or warranty for them. You are responsible for what you buy, therefore choose things carefully and analyze it well before you buy. The shopkeepers may tell you a price of 40GEL but with proper bargaining you can bring it down up to 20 to 25GEL. That is a lot of discount for sure! I guess that I forgot to explain about the route for those who travel by bus. The bus will drop you down in front of the Tbilisi Central Railway Station where you have to walk down the streets in the direction the stationary buses face. Then turn right at the end of the street where you can find a sub way with a metro sign in it. Get down the subway and walk through it without entering the metro station. You are now in the same place where those who came by metro trains are.

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After finishing some shopping inside these small stores you can proceed forward where you will emerge to the level of the roads after some minutes. However on both sides you can find a series of shops selling different kinds of things ranging from dresses, accessories to inner garments. Once you reach the road level keep walking forward and towards your right side you can find a series of stores that sells stuffed toys, souvenirs and some Georgian antiques. They appear to be antiques but they are not real ones. They look beautiful when they are placed on show case. If you are a foreigner about to return back to your homeland you can buy some good looking things from these shops as this will remind you about your time in Georgia every time you look at it. Never go beyond this as you can't find anything above this point.

A Bazaar in Vukzali

Cross the street and you will find a long cottage with many different stores in it. Even in here you can't differentiate between one shop and the next. Here the crowd is even higher and the path to walk is narrow. Therefore you will be pushed here and there if you stand in front of a shop to buy some things. On one side general grocery items and meat are available where as on the other side chocolates are sold. You can try them and buy chocolates in kilograms with a minimum amount of 6GEL per kilograms. There are also big assortment chocolates available here but you can't take chances buying it as you may not really know how it will taste.

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After a short purchase here you can leave the place and reach the streets again. Turn towards your right i. e. in the direction which you came and walk a little forward. Turn right and walk down the lane. On both sides you could see a lots of shops. Keep walking down till you reach a small turn which is again covered by shops. This turn will take you through a vast number of shops. You can identify that you are in the correct place just by looking up. When you look up you can see hundreds of caps above your head covering the roof. On both sides of this shop filled area you can see a plenty of shops. It is like a maze in here you get in through a way and you will have to pass through a hundred small shops in minimum to find your way out. But this won't be boring! First you will pass through shops that sell caps and mufflers. Then it is replaced by some toy stores. If you walk further you will enter a place where you can find a lot of porcelain items. You can see a huge collection of porcelain mugs and other utensils. Going deep through this path will take you to an area where you can find fancy items or gift articles. All the items that are displayed are really beautiful and you can bargain with the shopkeepers to get them at an economical price. There are also gift packing shops within these stores. The shopkeepers beautifully pack your gift and give them to you. Further inside is a women clothing section. Here you will find rows of shops that sell women clothes which are followed by men's clothes. The next section is a jeans section where you can see only jeans in whichever direction you turn.

After exploring all these sections you will be out of the maze finally and no one can say in which way you came out. You can't have any kind of Idea where you were during the entire journey inside. Next to this lane that leads to this shop is a gate which you can enter to see a building. This is called as the Electronic mall by the people. Inside you can find all electronic items ranging for plug sockets to laptop computers. Be sure before you buy anything as you can't be sure of the guarantee. After having a small walk around this mall you can even visit a store called "Dollar Store" which is located a couple of buildings next to this mall. Even this place gives you goods for a low price.

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Tbilisi Mall

Finishing your second round of shopping here you can get into a minivan or mashruthka numbered 51 which will take you to the Tbilisi mall located in the far end of Tbilisi. To catch this minivan you should come to the bus stand that is located in front of the electronic mall right opposite to the sports stadium. The journey is quite long to reach Tbilisi mall. The first part of travel through the city will be slow because of the traffic and once it reaches the highway there are no traffic signals and you can reach the mall in a few minutes, The Tbilisi mall is a newly constructed one opened this year. Within few months of its opening the mall has undergone tremendous growth giving rise to some major shops in Georgia. This is the place where the world famous hypermarket Carrefour is located in Georgia. Here you can get almost anything you want with a company guarantee. The prices here are really cheap and the shop covers two floors with grocery, home appliances, electronics, fashion, kids, travel, hardware, cosmetics and many other sections. The good thing about this place is that you can get whatever you want in a single place at a cheap price. You will at least need an hour to walk around Carrefour after which you can have a look at other stores in Tbilisi mall.

Right opposite to Carrefour you can see a shop called Bibilus which sells books. There are English books available ever however Georgian books are found in a large amount. The next important shop in Tbilisi mall is Zara, I don't really know why but I guess it is one of the most favorite Georgian stores. Here you can find a good collection of dresses for everyone. The next shop is GAP which is a branded store where you can find some good clothes however the prices are a little expensive here. There is also another store calle Pull and Bear which is a similar one. Then you have few more fashion stores in the first floor like the Banana world.

If you want to relax for sometime you can do so by taking a small break sitting in a cafeteria called "Mocha and More" in the center of Tbilisi Mall. There is also a kids play zone in the center of the mall with a small house like set where you can leave your kids to play. After a little while you can use the escalators found near the cafeteria to reach the second floor where you can find some more stores. These include a famous American store called New Yorker which is quite economical, a few other stores, two small shops that sells jewellery and finally a shop called LC Walkiki which gives a good discount on clothes and has a good collection from which you can select. Once you finish your shopping experience at the Tbilisi Mall you can take the same mashruthka to take you back to Delisi. To do all these things might probably take you a day so it is better to take rest for the rest of the day and continue the rest of the shopping tour the next day.

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Vake District

If you are not really satisfied with your shopping you can visit the district of Vake which is said as the modern district by the Georgian people. In here you can find some classic shops like Piere Cardin and others. There is also an I store in here and a small branch of Goodwill a famous supermarket in Georgia. In the complex above the goodwill there are different shops that are good enough for purchasing clothes. However the place doesn't has so much of shops to deal with. You can reach vake by taking a bus from the bus stand that is found in the parallel street to Delisi called as the Kazbegi street. Buses with numbers 140, 87, 88 reaches Vake and there are also a number of other minivans or mashruthkas by which you can reach vake. At vake there is a good place to eat creeps. This small shop is located opposite to the vake bus stop. Walking down the lane you will find this delicious creep shop towards your right hand site. There are different flaovrs available in this shop such as vegetable delight, apple caramel, banana chocolate, ham and cheese etc. You can taste them if you want to but they are really delicious. After finishing a trip in Vake you can catch the same bus which you used to reach vake to return back to Delisi.

Lilo District

There is also another place for doing some cheap shopping in Tbilsii. The place is called Lilo and you have to be on time for shopping at this particular place. After 1pm you can't find any store to shop in the Lilo market. This is a place where you can get clothes, accessories, sun glasses, cosmetics, footwear and many more in a similar way that you purchased in Vukzali but in a much cheaper rate. You can reach Lilo by a number of mashruthka's or minivans that are available. If you want to reach there quicker get a metro train to 300 Aragveli station and from there hire a taxi this will be economical and at the same time can take you faster to Lilo. If you hire a taxi from Delisi it would definitely cost you up to 10GEL. Products bought from Lilo are cheap but quality is a little question mark.

Marjanishvili

You can also try for shopping in various shops in Marjanishvili. There is a collezione show room which has a good collection of economic clothings. There are also few other local stores that can give you offers upon purchase. You can also find a Rebook showroom in Marjanishvili and other such showrooms like Colins. There is also some Turkish shops that can sell you good for a cheaper rate in Marjanishvili but this can't be as low as Vukzali or Lilo markets. There are also a variety of elegant stores found in the Rustaveli avenue which you can explore by yourself. Tbilisi is just another city in a new place similar to your home country. Feel free to explore it and find some new places. When I first reached Tbilisi I too didn't know anything but as time passed by with little explorations I guess I know at least something about Tbilisi. It is the same to you also. Keep exploring to gain more fun and experience.

So this concludes a whole trip of shopping in the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi. Hope you liked a shopping guide around Tbilisi. Please feel free to mention if you have comments or suggestions. Thank you for reading it patiently and till I publish my next article keep smiling and cheers