Shopping in Tel Aviv

As there is no distinction between tourist and residential areas, shopping venues are generally aimed at locals and are therefore reasonably priced. These range from outdoor markets selling food and clothes to chic European and Israeli designer boutiques.
There is something of a struggle going on at present in Tel Aviv between shopping streets and purpose-built malls. An effort is being made to revitalise Dizengoff Street, once the epitome of Israeli style but now sadly neglected in parts. The Dizengoff Centre at Dizengoff Square and the Azrieli Center on the Shalom junction are both styled on the traditional American mall, providing indoor shopping, dining and a cinema complex. The layout of the Dizengoff Centre, which crosses the street in overhead walkways, is confusing.
Designer names such as Gucci, Prada and Versace are concentrated on the huge circle of Hamedina Square, while Sheinkin Street (between Allenby and Rothschild) is the 'trendiest' street, where many fashionable Tel Avivians buy their clothes and just hang out. For more upmarket shopping, the Diamond Exchange, 1 Jabotinsky, Ramat Gan, is one of the world's principal marketplaces for diamonds and precious stones.
Visitors seeking a more unusual shopping experience should venture to one of Tel Aviv's daily markets. Carmel Market (see Further Distractions) is located a few minutes' walk from the southern part of the beach. It is an ideal place to soak up the smells and sounds of the city's cultural diversity. Alongside it is the colourful craft market of Nahalat Binyamin.
Shuk Hapishpeshim, Jaffa's flea market, sells a fantastic assortment of second-hand items which it is hard to imagine anyone wanting - odd shoes, faulty electrical equipment, broken furniture and damaged jewellery! Yet among this eclectic collection, visitors may spot genuine antiques. Local gifts include hand-blown glass, ceramics, wood carvings and watercolour paintings.