Charlotte Artefacts
Fodor's choice
This 80-year-old shop carries colorful Persian, Bedouin, and Armenian pottery and ceramics, weavings, painted silks, and jewelry.
8 Best Shopping in Jerusalem, Israel
Sorry! We don't have any recommendations for Jerusalem right now.
Jerusalem offers distinctive gifts from modern jewelry to traditional crafts to religious icons. The top shopping spots are the Downtown area, the Old City, and the Mamilla outdoor mall. The Hutzot Hayotzer artists' collective just outside the Old City walls is another popular and particularly beautiful spot, where during the August Arts and Crafts Festival you can visit the studios of resident artists and enjoy open-air music performances at night.
Prices are generally fixed in the Center City and the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, although you can sometimes negotiate for significant discounts on expensive art and jewelry. However, bargaining is common practice in the Old City's colorful Arab bazaar, or souk (pronounced "shook" in Hebrew—rhymes with "book"); it's fascinating but can be a trap for the unwary.
Young fashion designers, often graduates of Jerusalem's Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, have opened a stream of shops and boutiques. They’re scattered throughout the city. Several galleries representing Israeli artists are close to the hotels on King David Street.
Stores generally open by 8:30 am or 9 am, and some close between 1 pm and 4 pm. A few still close on Tuesday afternoon, a traditional but less and less observed half day. Jewish-owned stores (that is, all of West Jerusalem and the Old City's Jewish Quarter) close on Friday afternoon by 2 pm or 3 pm, depending on the season and the kind of store (food and souvenir shops tend to stay open later), and reopen on Sunday morning. Some stores geared to the tourist trade, particularly Downtown, reopen on Saturday night after the Jewish Sabbath ends, especially in summer. Arab-owned stores in the Old City and East Jerusalem are busiest on Saturday and quietest on Sunday, when many (but not all) Christian storekeepers close for the day.
Jerusalem House of Quality
Fodor's choice
Here you'll discover the work of 20 excellent Israeli craftspeople working in ceramics, glass, jewelry, sculpture, and wood. You can join them for a crafts workshop in their studios on the second floor. The store offers guided tours in English on the history of art in Jerusalem as well as on the building itself, which served as a hospital during the British Mandate.
Barbara Shaw
Australian immigrant Barbara Shaw has put her colorful, contemporary stamp on a selection of household gifts, from crisp dish towels and whimsical aprons to soft pillows and roomy tote bags.
Recommended Fodor's Video
Hoshen
Jewelry and attractive items in wood, ceramics, and fabric are available at Hoshen.
Klein
Israeli prime ministers have been shopping for gifts here since 1951. This is the factory showroom, and it stocks everything from high-quality olive-wood cutting boards to attractive trays decorated with Armenian pottery tiles.
Nisha
This shop displays an ample selection of reasonably priced Israeli crafts and gifts, from FIMO clay jewelry to whimsical pottery.
Ruth Havilio
Artist Ruth Havilio makes hand-painted tiles that can make your table shine, give your floors a shot of Middle Eastern color, or brighten up a child's room. You can have your tiles personalized (though not on the spot). To get there, take the alley to the left of St. John's Church. Part of the charm of the gallery is its evocative courtyard setting.
Set Gifts
Solve your gift problems here with an array of different objects, from jewelry to art pieces, dishes to handbags, in both traditional and modern styles.
