Places where I splurge myself with shopping

One of my favorite pastimes is shopping. I don’t know why, but I really like shopping. I enjoy buying things, from clothes, shoes, bags, books, towels, bed linens, kitchen wares, interior accessories, etc. etc. There is no month passing without me indulging myself with shopping, even for a small thing such as hair clip… ;p I too put aside certain amount of money for my shopping every month in an expectation that I would not exceed the budget that I set at the first place. But in the end, I usually end up spending more than I budgeted… Well, what can I say? I still can’t resist it. However, I think I still can manage my spending though… (does it sound like another excuse, huh?!)

To give you some ideas of where I usually splurge myself with shopping, here are some of my favorite shopping places, which are varied from the stylish mall to ‘pasar kaget’. I hope you too can enjoy your shopping as much as I do mine… Happy shopping!

Plaza Indonesia or Plasindo
It’s near my house. I just take ‘bajaj’ or cab to go there from home. But I usually go there on my way back from office. If I walk from office to home, I sometimes stop there and pamper myself to buy something that I need, such as shoes and clothes. Or, I just grab some foods and snacks.

My favorite places to shop clothes there are Zara (1st floor), shoes at Charles & Keith (2nd floor), books at Periplus (ground floor) and Kinokuniya (3rd floor at Debenhams), and foods & snacks at Food Hall (ground floor). I don’t spend much time when I shop, especially when I shop alone, I just grab what I need and go back home straight away. I don’t do window shopping. I just come there and get things I need.

Plaza Senayan or PS
It’s similar like Plaza Indonesia. And I usually go there when I’m in the neighborhood or when I want to buy something that I can’t find at Plasindo, and when there is sale at Sogo or Metro. It used to be my favorite place back then, but now I don’t go there as often as I did before since I can find the same items at Plaza Indonesia. But still, PS is my favorite place to shop and splurge once in awhile.

Senayan City or SenCi
I go here for the same reason I do for Plasindo and PS. Shops that I stop by are Zara, Charles & Keith, Vincci, Body Shop, Debenhams, and Food Hall. Places to eat: Shabu2House, Starbucks, Sushi Tei, and Burger King. It’s a posh mall and I enjoy being there just to see what’s happening and what’s trendy at the moment.

JaCC
This is my favorite place to shop clothes. It’s at Kebon Kacang area, about 500 meters from Plaza Indonesia. Here, you’ll find from trendy lady’s clothes to Moslem clothes, jilbab, mukena, batik, sarung, bags, t-shirts, shoes, sport wear, sport shoes, etc. You can find those at 'Pasar Tasik' which opens on Mondays and Thursday, it's located at Ground Floor JaCC. The price is varied and quite cheap. You can buy trendy lady’s clothes from Rp40,000.- up to Rp150,000.- If you compare the price from JaCC to ITC for instance, for the same clothes, it’s half price cheaper at JaCC than ITC. Off course, you have to bargain to get good price, but do not bargain for half of the offered price because they usually reduce the price from around Rp5,000.- to Rp10,000.- at most. And if they can’t reduce anymore, it means that it is the price. Tips to get cheaper price, buy at least 3 pieces at one store as they will give you price for ‘grosiran’. Go there with friends, so you can share to buy things and get good price.

Java
It’s near my office, across Sarinah. I usually go there when I need to buy towels. They have reduced price all year long for towels, bed linens, bolster, pillow, converter, quilt cover, etc. I once got a Terry Palmer towel for only Rp6,000.-! Cheap, isn’t it? They also have cute kitchenware there, like tea cup, dinner plates, food container, garlic grinder, and clothes hanger. They also have reduced price all year long for sport wear, such as running shoes. The prices are around Rp100,000.- to Rp250,000.- for shoes, and around Rp50,000.- to Rp100,000.- for sport wears.

Gang Senggol
The place is like ‘pasar kaget’ or ‘Sogo Jongkok’. You can get there from Thamrin (left side of SarPac Hotel and right side of Bank Syariah Mandiri building) or from Jalan Sabang (right side of Duta Suara). It can be very crowded at lunch time. Basically you can find almost everything here, from baby clothes, foods, books, fake-branded watches, sunglasses, VCD and DVD (bajakan), electronic stuffs, man and lady’s clothes, shoes, bags, swimsuits, sport wears, etc. You name it, and it’s there with lower price if you know how to bargain. I once bought a training pants for only Rp35,000.- and long sleeve t-shirt for Rp25,000.- It starts from 10am to 3pm everyday except Saturdays and Sundays.

Kedaung Group
It’s in Jalan Raden Saleh (about 500 meters from Cikini hospital). Here, you can buy kitchenware, dinnerware, crystal glasses, glass container, cutleries, etc. with lower price. If you apply for membership, you will even get a 10% discount too. If Lebaran or Christmas seasons, they offer more discounts and reduced prices for special items.

Unagi (Denpasar)
It’s in Jalan Tengku Umar Raya, Denpasar. But people are more familiar if you mention Jalan Marlboro. From Jalan Imam Bonjol, at the intersection, go left and go straight about 1 kilo meter from there. The store is at the right side of the road. I love to go here when I’m in Bali. I used to go to Pasar Kumbasari before I knew this place, but at Unagi you can find more and various items with lower price and it’s nearer from Kuta than Pasar Kumbasari which is in Denpasar. If you take a cab from Kuta area (for instance from Hard Rock or Mercure or Alam Kul Kul Hotel), the taxi fare is around Rp35,000.- for one way. You can also ask the driver to wait up for you while you shop at Unagi to take you back to hotel, and also ask them to turn off the meter. They’ll happy to do it. But don’t forget to give the driver a tip (about Rp10,000.-).

At Unagi, you can find all types of Baliness handy craft, from paper lamps, wood lamps, resin lamps, rattan lamps, stainless steel tray, wood tray, glass candle holder, resin candle holder, table mate, rattan boxes, rattan container, rattan trash bin, bags, purse, coaster, etc. etc. If you love interior accessories, you’d love to splurge yourself here.

The price is supposed to be cheap. But since all items are not tagged and priced, you really depend on the waitress to tell you how much the price is. Make sure you know exactly price of each item you bought, otherwise you’ll end up paying more expensive than it’s supposed to be. You can also bargain and insist the waitress to give you a discount or reduce the price. Or, you can be friends with the waitress, so next time you go there she will help and give you good price. And also, please make sure that you check all items that you bought when the waitress packs and prepares the bill. Just to make sure that she won’t give you different price and different items.

Ikea (Petaling Jaya, KL)
It’s in Petaling Jaya or PJ, at Ikano Power Building exactly. If you travel from KL (let’s say KLCC), it takes about 20 minutes drive and costs you around RM25 to RM30 for taxi fare (if there’s no traffic). It’s quite far from KL actually. But since my sister’s house is in PJ, it’s near. It takes 5 minutes by taxi and costs me about RM7. So I always enjoy shopping at Ikea when I’m in KL.

Here, like most Ikea stores worldwide, you can find almost everything that you need for your house, kitchen, room, office and garden. You can find furniture and accessories from lamps, file boxes, toiletries containers and purse, coasters, mouse pads, CD containers, cutleries, bed linens, rugs, etc. Prices of items are varied from RM1 to RM1.000. I like to buy items that I can’t find with cheap price in Jakarta, such as lamps, kitchen wares, rugs, office accessories, CD container, etc. If I don’t think of how I will carry those things back to Jakarta, I’d like to buy more stuff from Ikea. But at the end of the day, I need to think about avoiding excess baggage and how I can carry all the stuff I bought back to Jakarta. I don’t like having too many baggage to carry when I’m traveling. But it’s always nice shopping at Ikea. It’s a new kind of shopping experience for me.

Aussino (Ikano Power Building, PJ)
After I shop at Ikea, I usually stop by at Aussino store. It’s still at the same building, you just go straight from Ikea, and take an elevator to the 1st floor. And there you go, Aussino is at the right side of the elevator. Here you can buy lower price bed linens with good quality, especially when there is 50% to 70% discount. You can get queen size bed linen for only Rp95,000.- And it’s pure cotton! Even at Aussino store in Jakarta (Plaza Semanggi), you can’t get it as cheap as that. You can also find bed linen with cute motifs, from flowers, stripes, squares, polka dots, leaves, cartoon characters, embroideries, etc. Really, if you like good quality bed linen, you should come here and buy some for you. So, next time you’re in PJ, drop by at Aussino and buy some bed linens for yourself!

Vincci Stores (in KL)
What I like doing when I’m in KL visiting my niece other than playing with my lovely Nadia, is shopping shoes at Vincci stores. I can do this everyday! Every time I’m in KL, I have to go to Vincci stores, either in One Utama, KLCC, Ikano Building, Mid Valley, The Curve, Bukit Bintang, or Bangsar. I just have to go there… It’s like ‘my trip to KL is not complete yet if I don’t go to Vincci store yet!’ What I like about Vincci shoes is that the price is reasonable, the style is trendy, and it suites my needs and taste of shoes. I’m just a Vincci-shoe-adict. In fact, I still have 5 pairs of Vincci shoes that I haven’t even put on from my last trip to KL last year… Now, can you see…?