2 Best Shopping in Johannesburg, South Africa

Faan Smit Park on 4th Avenue has been converted into a landscaped urban space with 27 Boxes as its central feature. Stacked shipping containers (19ft x 6ft in size) make up this retail center, which contains 50-odd stores and eateries. From art, design, and décor to fashion and specialty gifts, you can find it all here—there’s even a craft gin distillery. Be sure to check out Krag Drag clothing for a retro South African souvenir that is hard to find elsewhere like T-shirts emblazoned with emblematic South African brand logos like Chappies bubblegum or clothes and accessories made from vibrant shweshwe fabric. Have a look at the website for details about their pop-up weekend markets and events, which regularly include a green market and a vegan market.

The dappled sunshine courtyards of this 1930s industrial block are lined with ateliers, galleries, family-owned cafés and restaurants, as well as one-of-a-kind stores. On the border of Melville, 44 Stanley is the kind of place where you can easily spend half the day—getting a custom T-shirt printed or a dress tailored, flipping through vinyls, picking out a limited edition print, choosing a holiday memento, or simply window shopping. It's also the newfound home of a few businesses that have relocated from Maboneng, such as the independent Bioscope cinema that screens independent documentaries and film festivals, and hosts live music performances as well as stand-up comedy. While there are many options to choose from for a bite to eat at 44 Stanley, the much-loved Little Addis Café is a must if you want to give authentic Ethiopian cuisine a try. There is free street-side parking with car guards directly outside this leafy lifestyle complex, an off-street parking lot (R10) on Owl Street, or in the underground parking lot at Stanley Studios vis-a-vis.