Khan Market – a guided tour

By Kay McMahon, 25 July 2003

(Eicher page 97, grid reference C4)

Khan Market – much used by the expat and diplomatic community. Excellent book shops, some upmarket clothing, a good dental practice, opticians, grocers, photographers, tailors, computer shops, and a couple of upmarket household furnishing stores. There is also a liquor shop selling imported beer, spirits and wine.

Khan is a large U-shaped market with two parallel “U”s and a couple of extra bits. (If anyone has a better description – I’ll buy you a beer.) The front is full of photographers, stationery shops, a computer software shop, and some excellent book shops. Books are cheap in India and it’s hard not to buy bags of them at a time.

Cutting through to the back of the market – there is very little on the inside of the parallel Us although it might be worth a stroll down if you have the time to spare – you come to the inside part, facing a small park. Along this street, you’ll find good mini-market type shops selling imported veg and other goods. For a foreigner the choice is better (if more expensive) than at, say, Sarojini. There are also a couple of boutiques selling upmarket household furnishings, a good florist and a variety of other shops.

Turning right, from the cut-through, and then left at the corner, walk a little way up for Grover Tailors. Each family has their own favourite tailor, and we have so far always been pleased with Grover. Please write in with your own recommendations.

Dr Siddharta’s dental surgery is almost directly behind this, on the outside of the outer U, where you can get good treatment.

Right over on the opposite arm of the “U” from Grovers et al, and crossing the main road from there, most of the block consists of car repair workshops. However, you’ll find Narula’s stationery shop, which is near the park and quite easy to find. Narula’s can usually get whatever you need, be it filing cabinet suspension files, pens and paper, if they don’t already have it. Recommended. There is also a handy little hardware store tucked away in the street behind Narula’s.

Across the other side of the road mainly specialises in lighting. Look out for Crystal Palace which has some nice modern ones at reasonable prices. The Liquor Shop is also here, where you can buy beers and spirits. Bottles of local Fosters currently retail at Rs20 which isn’t bad at all. There’s also a “Body Shop” type of place called Khadi which sells a small range of Ayurvedic food and cosmetics. Nice stuff.

There are, of course, several places to eat or to recover from shopping with a cup of coffee – for instance, the Full Circle bookshop has a nice cafe. Plus there are a couple of restaurants.