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Whether you're after designer clothes, the latest books or DVDs, high-quality African art, or glamorous gifts, Johannesburg offers outstanding shopping opportunities. In fact, many people, particularly from other African countries, come here with the express aim of shopping. Dozens of malls, galleries, and curio shops are scattered throughout the city, often selling the same goods at widely different prices. It's best to shop around.
Art Africa brings together a dazzling selection of ethnic arts, crafts, and artifacts from across the continent and also sells funky items, such as tin lizards made from soda cans, wood-carved animals, and beaded key chains, that are produced in community empowerment projects which uplift and benefit the craftsmen and their communities.
Established in 1913, the gallery is one of the oldest commercial art galleries in South Africa. The privately owned gallery acts as an agent for several important South African and African artists and sculptors, and it specializes in modern and contemporary artwork, particularly wildlife paintings and sculpture.
The highly successful, five-plus-decade-old Goodman Gallery presents exciting monthly exhibitions by the stars of contemporary African and African diaspora art, including William Kentridge, David Goldblatt, Kudzanai Chiurai, and Sue Williamson. Its website also hosts online viewing rooms.
