Islamabad Shopping – Shops, Stores, Best Buys & Inside Tips

Islamabad Shopping

If you’re looking for a fun shopping destination, Islamabad shopping has plenty to explore. Here are the shops, stores, and inside tips that others have recommended from their personal experience.

Jinnah Market

This area is a somewhat upmarket shopping district in Islamabad. The Saeed Book Bank is excellent and you can get some real bargains and the books are the real deal. They’re not the cheap copies available at most booksellers in Pakistan. This shop has a great range of art books, a large textbook section, fiction and a reasonably big Urdu language section, plus you get store credit coupons if you make a large purchase. The Hayee cosmetics shop across the street sells some Western brands as well as perfumes, shampoo etc. (genuine Mac cosmetics too!). You’ll find a plethora of gold jewelry shops in this area selling both traditional styles (big jhumkis and chintaaks) and more modern items. You can also have items made to your own specifications. There’s a large music/DVD store that sells ‘trendy’ clothes and accessories, though all the DVDs are copies or bootlegs. There is very little available parking as it seems to be perpetually busy, and some rather persistent beggars stalk this area.

Super Market

Super Market, also called Super Markaz, the Urdu word for market, is one of Islamabad’s largest and most popular market areas. It offers a variety of shops including clothing, jewelry, rugs, books, and much more spread among several two and three story buildings with parking between. The shops face out into the parking lots, often with people relaxing in chairs or squatting on the ground in the shade of the awnings and covered walkways. This is one of the most popular markets in the city for foreigners, and the shopkeepers speak English well, are willing to display their wares, and are known for occasionally tossing in a few free trinkets if you make a purchase.

Editor’s note: The information contained on this page was compiled using real traveler reviews about Islamabad Shopping – Shops, Stores, Best Buys & Inside Tips.