Commercial Street — A Shopper’s Ultimate Destination
Just like the Oxford Street of London and Orchid street of Singapore, Commercial Street is Bangalore’s shopaholic haven. An entire lane distanced more than 1km and has everything from fancy stores to the branded store to footpath stalls to street food. What’s fun and confusing at the same time about this lane is that there are so many more sub-lanes connecting to the main lane, or what we locally call gullies.
ABOUT
Commercial Street has continued to be the busiest lane since the time it started. Despite being chaotic due to the overcrowding and noise, one somehow manages to find what they’re looking for, in these lanes. Nobody returns home in the disappointment of not having found what they want. If you’re someone who’s always on the run and has no time to dedicate for shopping, you can walk on these lanes and pick out your outfit, get it altered instantly, find matching jewellery, accessories and footwear, in just about 2 hours or even lesser depending on your pace. There’s not a thing you won’t find here, they’ve got your beauty and skin care covered, too. Oh, they’ve also got stores that sell imported candies, snacks and makeup products.
STREET LIFE
The gullies here hustle more than the Main Street. You have separate lanes for each of your needs like — jewellery lane, where you get small stores that sell real jewellery, and pierce your ears, too, with gunshot technology. Also you have a different lane for the fake jewellery. Then again we have a lane dedicated only for dress materials, fabrics and threads.
You can immediately see the contrast here — street food versus restaurant food. You have mongers who sell fruits and chaats on the roadside, as well as restaurants like Woody’s, fast food stores like KFC and Burger King, sweet store like Anand, and small bites like Frankie. You can walk all day on this street and not get tired. It’s so convenient to buy food, fuel your tummy quickly and get back to the grind.
What’s fascinating about this place is it’s street vendors, every now and then you’ll find them alluring the crowd with something intriguing like the transparent balloon with lights that we’ve been seeing on streets lately.
You can find any type of fashion jewellery here, be it ethnic jhumkas or vibrant tassel earrings. Commercial Street is known for its variety in jewellery collection. Any time you see some accessories making noise online, you know where to find them — the lanes of Commercial Street. They have such a vast display of jewellery that you’ll not be able to get over them and move on forward to the next store. Although the stalls are small, it doesn’t stop your mind from wandering.
EXCLUSIVE STORE PICKS
There are a lot of branded stores one can find here at Commercial Street such as Allen Solly, Chumbak, Westside, Soles, etc., which could be found in malls, too. But there are certain stores that can only be found in the beautiful lanes of Commercial Street. Let’s take a look at them!
1. The Silver stores
Krishnaiah Chetty & Sons and Silver Jewelry are two exclusive silver sales stores here that you will not find elsewhere. CKC sells everything and anything in its silver medal, but Silver Jewelry, the store, is focused on fashion jewelry made out of silver metal.
2. The Fabric stores
Do you urgently need a certain kind of fabric in less quantity? Or you need some fancy fabric? In that case, Commercial Street is your calling. There is a wide range of stores to pick from like mentioned earlier, a whole street is dedicated for fabrics. You can go there to find regular fabrics such as poplin, cotton, polyester, etc., but if you need fancy materials for lehengas, gowns or party wear, you can check out the very reputed Mysore Saree Udyog and Sterling House. These two stores not only sell fabrics but also sell ready to wear garments.
3. The Art stores
Certain stores here are dedicated to art and handicrafts. Two such stores are the Mecca Life Style and Asiatic Arts and Crafts. Each piece here is so beautiful that it makes you forget about the noisy world outside the store.
4. The fancy stores
Commercial Street is never short on stores that have outfits to make you go crazy. Any lane you walk into there is always a store that will immediately catch your attention and you’ll not be able to pass by without paying a visit to the store. You get occasion wears as well as party wears in these kinds of stores. The outfits are sure to make everyone think you’re a diva.
5. Best of best
Certain stores stand out more than the others. Vashi’s house of jeans is a store for all you denim lovers out there. You can get all kinds of jeans here, in any fit you would like to have it — super skinny, boyfriend, straight cut, etc.
Hi-Street Mall and Mahaveer Mall are the twin malls that have the most exciting stores. You can buy any kind of shampoos, cosmetics, snacks and chocolates, reasonably priced kurtas, designer home linen (Prachi’s designer home linen), western clothes (Mischief), imported scents, etc.
You have so many tailor stores here that stitch and alter your garments in less than an hour.
IN AND AROUND COMMERCIAL STREET
Safina Plaza
A two storied building that has some of the best exhibitions in town. Drop by here in the weekend to have a gala time. You can find one or the other exhibition here on all days. Their displays typically include sarees, handicrafts, bedspreads, etc.
Shivaji Nagar
This place is the best one in Bengaluru to find almost everything you find in Commercial Street for a lesser price. There are so many pet stores here that will not give you the mind to go away. The most attracting place at Shivaji Nagar is the Russell market where you have a roof to shop under. You can buy flowers, fruits and vegetables, and all types of meat. Kamraj Road
MG Road
The most presentable road of Bengaluru is MG Road. You have one of the fanciest restaurants and 5-star hotels here — Oberois Hotel and Vivant by Taj. We can find one of the best malls here — 1MG mall.
Brigade Road
Do you want a grab a small bite, a great cup of coffee, a quick drink or some donuts? Brigade Road is the place for you. You also have the biggest Samsung store at the entrance of the road — Samsung Opera House.
Now you know why Commercial Street is the Shopper’s ultimate destination to land in. We hope this blog was helpful to you. Stay tuned for more such content!
Written and photographed by — Shainika Reddy
