INTRODUCTION:
 Tourists
staying in Greater Banjul's
main beach holiday resorts
of The Gambia will have plenty of souvenir shopping opportunities,
as almost every one of the tourist class hotels
has in-house boutiques or
nearby a craft market, grocery stores, stall holders or
street hawkers.
There are also a few art
galleries with shops and cafes selling West African art. The
often vibrant local village fairs offer various produce like fruits
and vegetables, as well as household wares, imported fabrics
and clothing at reasonable prices. General household goods, electronics
and fashion shops abound in the
Kombos. When shopping in Gambia beware that while some stores
stock high quality merchandise, many stock low quality goods.
CRAFT MARKETS:
 These
are usually located inside or close to the main tourist
hotels between Kololi to Cape
Point, as well as further east to the Banjul
capital. They vary in size from the large Kotu
Tourist Craft Market to the smaller Bakau
Craft Market. These are locally known as 'bengdulas' and are
often filled with products custom made for tourists.
Among these are batiks, sarongs,
sand paintings and wood figurines. If you take your time you can
often spot some good quality bargains among the mass produced
carved animals and cheap trade beads. You might also find locally
made jams, condiments and honey produced by enterprise
charities and local co-operatives. More...
ART GALLERIES & CAFES:
 There
are a few privately run art establishments such as the Gaya
Art Cafe in Kololi and the Africa
Living Art Centre in Bakau's Fajara
area which sells West African curiosities such as masks,
as well as 'silver' jewellery
and textiles.
These places aim to combine eating and drinking with
an enjoyment of local art, as well as offering visitors a chance
to do some shopping for various quality artworks, as opposed to
those which can be purchased in the tourist hang-outs around town.
More...
FRUIT PRESSERS / SELLERS:
 On
the beaches of almost all the tourist hotels you will find a row
or more of Gambian women selling fruits
or pressed fruit juices as well as coconut from stalls usually
coloured bright blue. These stalls replaced the fruit ladies who
used to wonder along the beach unregulated and often pestering
sunbathing visitors. They tend to be more expensive than you might
find at the local village fairs but is more than made up for by
the convenience.
If you are a little worried about the
hygiene conditions in which the fruit is prepared then consider
ordering just whole fruit. Many of the women, and some men, depend
on the income during the tourist season to help put food on the
family table, and cover things like their kid's school fees and
uniforms. This is a great way to help provide income for families
rather than spending all your money within your hotel complex.
Look at it like a form of responsible
tourism. More...
TOWN & VILLAGE MARKETS:
 These
can be found in all the peri-urban areas and many of the major
villages all the way from the Kombo district in the West Coast
Region up to Basse Santa Su in the easternmost sector of The Gambia.
They mostly have on sale an array of cheap household
goods, imported and locally produced groceries and various local
produce such as fresh vegetables, palm oil, dried fish, ground
peanut paste, fruits and dried herbs. They are also good places
go shopping for richly coloured rolls of fabric, shoes and clothing.
In pre-colonial times these places were characterized by the country
'fair' type associated with the long distance trade of groundnuts,
salt, slaves and local subsistence food stalls.
BANJUL CAPITAL:
 The
vast majority of merchandise imported into The Gambia comes through
the port of Banjul.
From here some of the goods find their way into the city's shops,
while the rest is trucked off to other parts of the country as
well as to other West African countries.
The Albert
Market, on Liberation Avenue, is the main urban market. A
colourful, bustling centre to browse, brimming with a large selection
of household products, colourfully patterned fabrics, familiar
and unfamiliar foods, household wares, wooden
masks and traditional musical
instruments.
KOLOLI VILLAGE COMPLEX:
 This
is a modern place located on the Bertil Harding Highway. It is
basically an open-air shopping arcade whose building is similar
in shape to a horseshoe with twin minarets, one on each end. Within
the open air semi-enclosure of the
Village Complex is a garden area, a kids' playground, a fountain,
and seating areas in front of various shops and diners on the
ground floor.
There are clothing stores, offices, an optician, a dentist,
restaurants, cafes,
car rentals and a supermarket.
Among these are the El
Sol Restaurant, the Vineyard
Restaurant, RHW Jewellers and Trends Fashion Boutique.
BAKAU TOWN MARKET:
 The
place sells fruits, meat, fish, vegetables and small, durable
consumer goods. It is mostly a corrugated roofed maze of tightly
arranged stalls and shops displaying all manner of household products
and foodstuffs such as rice, smoked bonga fish, packeted and tinned
foods, heaps of tomatoes, hot chilli peppers and aubergines, sugar
and lots more. You will also find flip flops, pens, buckets, pocket
radios, and other bric-a-brac. In front of the Bakau
market on the Atlantic Road
you will see the fruit and vegetables section, a less stifling
shopping experience.
Opposite here is a small shed which
sells frozen and chilled shrimps at prices lower than you will
find in the local supermarkets. Just a stones throw away to the
north you will find the Bakau
community fishing centre and landing jetty where you can buy catches
such as butterfish and shad. The busiest time is when the pirogues
arrive to land their catches. Suddenly the place bursts into frenzied
activity as women begin ferrying pan loads of fish on their heads
from the boats to the beach. There are also fish stalls, refrigeration
blocks and fish smoking houses.
SERREKUNDA MARKET:
 If
you've never experienced urban Africa before then shopping in
Serrekunda Market might come
as a bit of a culture shock. To prepare you first need to brush
up on your haggling
skills, wear a money belt to guard against the ever present pickpockets,
where a hat, sunglasses, carry a bottle of water, maybe take along
an experienced guide. Then you are set to go!
As you get closer to the main market building from Westfield
Junction and up the Sayer
Jobe Avenue cars are often bumper to bumper, hordes of pedestrian
shoppers and
street stalls jam the pavements, diesel fumes waft in the air,
the heat - often oppressive, locally made and imported goods of
all kinds to your right and left. Most of the 'market' is not
in a building, but in the adjacent streets. At the back of the
main building is the pungent, fly infested produce area selling
smoked and fresh fish, vegetables, fruits, nuts, cooking
ingredients and various items which many visitors might find unrecognisable.
More...
KAIRABA AVENUE:
 The
thoroughfare, also known as Pipeline Road, is The Gambia's equivalent
of the UK's Oxford Street in London. Stiflingly hot in summer,
more pleasant in winter, laterite, concrete and sandy 'pavements'
line both sides of the 3 km stretch of road which is often jammed
with private cars and taxis.
The section of Kairaba
Avenue starting on the Atlantic Road, in Fajara
M Section, up to about 200 metres after the main traffic lights
makes for the most pleasant shopping and dining experience. Here
you can find some of the best
restaurants in Gambia, as well as well stocked supermarkets,
office stationery stores,
banks, electronics and household wares
outlets. Just south of the traffic light junction you will see
stalls of fruits and vegetables, and a little further south you
will see many small horticultural gardens selling plants, small
trees and seedlings, as well as large clay plant pots.
 The
most congested section of Kairaba Avenue is from Westfield Junction,
in Serrekunda, going west for
about 150 metres. This section is dominated by electronics
shops, and general household goods outlets. Kairaba Avenue
is well worth a visit where you can get some good bargains at
generally lower prices than in Europe. More...
HIGH STREET CONSUMER STORES:
 These
kinds of stores are well worth a visit as good bargains can be
had. The only downside is that once you buy a product and head
off back to your country the guarantees and warranties are virtually
worthless. So do check that the product you buy is in good working
order or clothes are well stitched and comfortable.
Great buys can be had with regards to stationery, small electronics
products like memory sticks, DVD movies, souvenirs from gift shops,
fashion clothing and shoes. Ironically many clothing items are
imported from the UK and USA at wholesale summer discount prices,
so you're sure to find some bargains. Some items however are overpriced
such as laptops and Android
smartphones. To compare prices with back home it is worthwhile
knowing the current exchange rate for your currency, and take
along a pocket calculator. Generally speaking the more upmarket
the shopping area, the better the quality of the goods. Tip: while
shopping look out for genuine brand names or test and check before
buying.
SUPERMARKETS:
 There
are quite a number of medium to large supermarkets
and mini-markets dotted
around the Kombo Saint Mary District, especially along the Kairaba
Avenue and the coastal resorts. Maroun's
Supermarket, near the Palma Rima Hotel, is fairly compact
but offers a good shopping experience as it is well stocked with
many US and UK brand name foods and household products such as
jams, butter, marmalade, milk, cornflakes, cleaning products,
toilet paper and more.
A couple of hundred metres further
south is the Adams Trading Supermarket which is modern, a lot
larger and filled to the brim with a good variety of products.
As you head further south towards the Senegambia Strip area there
are smaller grocery stores on the Bertil Harding Highway. If you
turn right at the junction of the Senegambia
Strip there are several shops catering for tourists and selling
many essentials, which is particularly convenient if you are staying
in a self-catering accommodation
in Kololi. More...
LOCAL CORNER SHOPS:
 There
are a plethora of small 'corner' stores which generally cater
to their nearby residential location and passers-by. These types
of local shops usually stock soft
drinks, purified water, bread, butter, candles, flip-flops, sweets
and numerous other small items of food and disposable consumer
goods.
They are handy for purchasing basic essentials
such as batteries, bottled water and toilet rolls after most of
the major mini-markets and supermarkets have closed, usually by
11pm. If you are staying in one of the lodges
or guest houses in any of the
resorts such as Kololi, Bijilo, Fajara etc., there are usually
several small booths within 100 metres of your accommodation.
More...
PRICES:
 As
a general rule the more expensive the product the better the quality.
The cost of things
can vary greatly and the final price you pay may well depend on
your bargaining and haggling skills. To discover the best bargains
however, it is better to move away from the tourist resorts and
go shopping further into town. Tip: side street stores in Gambia
tend to pay lower rents and these savings can often be passed
onto the consumer in the form of lower prices. More...
SHOP OPENING HOURS:
 Monday
to Thursday 9am - 5pm, Fri-Sat 9am - 12.30pm. Some outlets may
stay open until 10pm, some food stores stay open up to 11pm and
beyond. More...
Things To
Do 
Haggling
Gambia
Shopping Directory
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COST OF THINGS
The prices of goods and services in Gambia varies from place
to place. The following is a general prices guide. More>>> |
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HAGGLING
Learning some of the local bargaining skills is essential
if you want to buy items at reasonable prices. Here are
some tips. More>>> |
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BANJUL &
ALBERT MARKET
This is the capital's main urban bazaar packed full of housewares,
clothes, food & crafts. More>>> |
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SERREKUNDA
MARKET
For a taste of urban Africa you can't get much better than
this. This is where people, traffic & goods merge. More>> |
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BATIKS
& WAXES
There are some genuine batiks to be had if you know where
to go shopping & look out for. Ideal for sarongs &
bags. More>> |
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RHW
JEWELLERS
Retailers of designer jewellery, fragrances, watches and
sunglasses from DKNY, Guess and Calvin Klein.
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FRUITS
You can't visit Gambia without trying a succulent mango,
delicious papaya or one of our green oranges. Yummy! More>> |
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ELECTRONICS
SHOPS
From DVD players, mp3, smartphones & much larger white
goods, lower prices are plentiful. No guarantees though.
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TOP SHOP
Sales of West African arts & crafts, jewelry, bags,
clothes and T-Shirts & gift items from other parts of
the world. More >> |
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EMPORIUM
A top quality household goods department store selling bedroom
& lounge suites, home decorations, fabrics, gifts, toys,
health store. More>> |
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DUTY
FREE!
Travellers departing from Banjul Airport can buy from the
international duty free area the following products without
customs duty. More>> |
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HAIRDRESSERS
Get those holiday braids early from the professional hair
salons dotted around town. Or what about hair extensions?
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RESTAURANTS
There are many diners in & close to the resorts of Kololi,
Kotu & others serving Indian, Chinese, British &
other types of cuisine. More>> |
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GIFT
SHOPS
If you are after something a little different from the craft
market offerings like wood masks then visit a gift
store selling various gifts & souvenirs. More>> |
Travel Advice
Things To Do
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