Shopping in Mauritius

To cut a long story short, shopping in Mauritius is undergoing a total transformation since 2011 with the up-shooting of shopping centres all over the place. Shopping in Mauritius has now 2 sides.

Side A - Although not coming close to Singapore, many local people and regular tourists are not welcoming this proliferation of Shopping centres while others <ý devour > them. Devour being a much more appropriate word than <ý love > as Mauritians visit shopping centres as a place to hang out with friends, eventually swallow some fast food and window-shop ; containing their frustration of not being able to pay the prices at those shops, becoming victims of the newly established materialist society of Mauritius.

These shopping centres raised the bar in terms of shop-fitting, window-dressing, packaging and especially rent, while the crisis hits, pushing to the side the local brands and shops that were making Mauritius a newly creative nation. Shopping now consists of International brands found in every single city of the Northern hemisphere, grouped under air-conditioned concrete blocks, where genuine and fake mix at hardly competitive prices. Brilliant! Mauritius lost a bit more of its identity...

The main shopping centres are:
Bagatelle Mall of Mauritius - Bagatelle,
Cascavelle shopping mall - Cascavelle / Flic en Flac,
Caudan Waterfront - Port Louis,
Centre Commercial - Phoenix,
Centre Commercial - Riche Terre,
Circle Square - Forbach
Grand Baie couer de ville,
La Croisette - Grand Bay,
Orchard Shopping Centre - Quatre Bornes,
Passadena Village - Flic-en-Flac,
Port Louis Waterfront,
Riverside - Riviere du Rempart,
Ruisseau Créole - Riviere Noire,
Sunset Boulevard, Grand Baie,
Trianon shopping park

At least one more to come

Side B - Shopping in the heart of Port Louis or villages remains unchanged. There everything but the kitchen sink, at any price. Forget the rules of merchandising, the basics of commerce and even accounting. It's all a question of feeling and human interaction.

Meandering among stalls selling colourful cakes, statues, fake watches and flashy fancy jewellery, many shops sell clothing and accessories of Asia fashion as targeted to the local population. It is however possible to sort out a pair of shoes or some handicraft product. The recipe for a good shopping session : Shop for fun, not to find something particular, add a lot of tolerance, patience, gentleness and smile. Long live Mauritius!

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Update January 2013