The best fashion and gift stores Dakar

Cotton clothes, bags, cushions, sculptures and jams, this fair trade shop is worth a visit for its many handicraft products, made by the villagers of Ndem, 120 km east of Dakar. In order to improve their living environment, they have organized themselves into an NGO which groups together a total of 16 surrounding villages. This shop is one of their showcases to make their products known. Maam Samba also offers comfortable guest rooms and has a restaurant with simple and authentic cuisine. A good address.

At the corner of Avenue Lamine-Guèye and Avenue Emile-Badiane. The most famous market of Dakar, the most touristic one too. You can find fruits, vegetables, pearls, fabric... All around, it is the Ali Baba's cave. Shopkeepers offer everything you can imagine, and more: cameras, electronic devices, all kinds of imported products most of the time and at low prices. Agitation, animation, smells inside the meat and fish department, Sandaga leaves no sense asleep. Be careful, you have to know how to negotiate.

The best bookstore in Dakar! A maze of culture that reveals its secrets along its shelves. There's no need to be in a hurry when you visit this generalist bookshop, which is basically very comprehensive. You come for one thing, you leave with another. What's more, the organisation is professional and the welcome is very pleasant. Another even more spacious premises in the Ouakam district, where dedications, meetings with authors, exhibitions and conferences are regularly organised. To be discovered.

On Rue Assane Ndoye, this little store with its black-and-white facade is a paradise for dressing children. Colorful clothes, with their trademark finish (right down to the dolls' hair, carefully braided by Delphyne and the store's braiders), will dress your newborns and young children. Hélène, the ever-available owner, also sells plush toys, African dolls and handbags. Some woven adult clothes are also on sale. Quality guaranteed!

Located in the heart of Dakar, the Florence de La Peschardière Création store is a little paradise of wonder. Readers of Le Petit Futé are warmly welcomed to discover handmade jewelry in natural materials. From lapis lazuli to terra cotta, from amber to amazonite, the designer offers a unique encounter between material and jewel, seductive in its originality and elegance.

Clothes, gifts for birth and other souvenirs for the small, this is what you will find at Les Petit Peas Est Rouge. The models are chewable and finishing, flawless. Cherry on the cake: The customization of the pieces with the first name of the child. From sarouel to bath sortie with a touch of coloured wax. On order only.

Aïcha and her husband Oury Diallo are both tailors, Mrs. for African dress and Mr. for western confection. They have their shop near Peytavin Avenue. They can "take your steps", sew in record time your clothes, that you can recover by making your last purchases. Work really well done and at reasonable prices.

Along with the one in Sandaga, it is the most famous flea market in Dakar. Clothes, clothes and more clothes. But also something new, lots of branded clothes and fabrics, sheets or curtains. It is located on the outskirts of the city centre and can be reached by taxi or fast bus. And once there, it's a paradise for the rascal! Beware however, it is also a paradise for pickpockets, and it is better to be accompanied by a Senegalese to visit it, but also to negotiate prices and make good deals.

When you are in the textile craft area, ask "Paco Rabane", everyone knows it. This specialist in African fabrics offers a wide choice of bogolans, batik, indigo, etc. Items sold by metre or piece for decorative tablecloths or cloth. You also have the possibility to acquire models made by professional designers.

Located near the Massalikoul Djinane mosque, this is the fabric market of Dakar! All patterns, all styles, all origins are represented along these swarming alleys. Everyone has of course a sewing machine in the extension of the arm. Cotton, silk, synthetic, natural, make your choice, the couturiers will always make something out of it. In addition to fabric, you will find everyday products, jewellery, shoes, among other miscellaneous items. The market is very lively at weekends, beware of pickpockets!

First stationery, the owner expanded his field of activity by proposing a bookstore space offering nearly 1 000 titles, most of them in French.