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With the city growing in size by the day, a range of shops offering anything under the sky are available unless you know the right place to shop for the right stuff and have enough disposable income to let your purse strings loose, Hyderabad is a shoppers paradise. The city offers anything from the most expensive automobile to antiques, jewelry, handicrafts, traditional and modern clothes, leather goods, handlooms, ikat fabrics, kalamkari paintings, bidri work, you name it and you have them all available. The economy has brought about a vast change in the lifestyle of the people from shopping to eating habits. Shopping malls have become increasingly popular. Western style outlets - the likes of Shoppers Stop, Westside & Lifestyle are favourite places for the upper crust society. While the burgeoning food store chains departmental stores have taken over the small time kirana merchants and general stores of the past. Self sufficiency, and time factor has become the order of the day. Arts and crafts is an integral part of Hyderabad.
Begum Bazaar
The Begum Bazaar is located two kilometers from the Naya Pul bridge in the Old City. It is an age old retail and wholesale market for household commodities. Of late, several brassware merchants have set up shop in the Begum Bazaar. Begum Bazar is the largest market in the city. House old commodities of all sizes, shapes and brands at the best prizes are available. The only hitch at the bazar is the congestion and the lack of hygiene. Deals worth crores are struck daily. If you are looking for any article at the best prize then Begum Bazar is the best place.
The adjoining Moazzam Jahi market is the largest fruit and vegetable market in the city. This market is being slowly replaced by the market at Kothapet which is there beyond Dilsukhnagar.
General Bazaar
Situated in the heart of Secunderabad, the twin of Hyderabad. It is the second largest whole sale market after Begum Bazar in the city. Household commodities, kids articles and bangles are available at the best prizes.
Adjacent to General Bazar is the Tobacco Bazar, the second biggest Saree wholesale market in the state. Sarees of all types are available
Sultan Bazaar
Situated between the Residency and the Badi Chowdi, the Sultan Bazaar is the most busy commercial centre in the city. It was formerly called the Residency Bazaar. Today, it brims with the calls of street pedlars and modern, inviting signboards side by side. Anything and everything can be found on this single stretch of road. The best buys include women's wear, slippers & shoes, bangles and other trinkets.
Shilparamam
A crafts village set up at Madhapur beyond Jubilee Hills. It is spread over 30 acres and has annual bazaars where artists and artisans from all over the country participate.The famous arts and crafts exhibition at Shilparamam for 15 days every year and the three day Society Arts and Crafts exhibition conducted every year are a couple of such exhibitions which mark its importance in the city besides a whole lot of shops that cater to the art lovers of the city.
Laad Bazar
Lies to the west of Charminar and has a very special Hyderabadi ambience. The narrow lane is filled with burkha-clad women, glistening bangle shops and old buildings with wooden balconies, which make walking along this alley a worthwhile experience. Southeast of Laad Bazar lie the palaces built by different Nizams including the Chowmahalla Palace. Lad Bazaar is the main market for Bangles.
The Char Minar and its bustling bazaars is where the spirit of old Hyderabad lives on. It's here, that you will find age-old nahari stalls that serve the steaming sheep's-trotter broth and kulchas that form the traditional Hyderabad breakfast even today. Try to come is just before sunrise on a winter morning, when there's still a slight shiver in the air and the echoes of the azaan -- the call to prayer - wraps the city. It's here that you'll find the traditional teahouses, known for their hearty repartee and their burqe-vali-chai ('tea that wears a veil' -- a reference to the thick layers of cream on top). Then there are all the narrow little streets with their specialist trades: the street of the silver-beaters, the street of the flower-sellers, the street of the apothecaries and, of course, Laad Bazaar, the street of the bangle-sellers. Named, perhaps appropriately, after a pampered Qutub Shahi princess, Laad Bazaar is lined on one side with shops selling brightly coloured glass bangles -- and on the other side, with those selling traditional Hyderabadi cosmetics, bridal accessories and attar, or perfumes.
