City Beat
Text: Andrea Parker Photos: Murray Anderson-Ogle
Source: Lowveld Living Issue 22
It’s an urban legend that Nelspruit’s city centre is a no-go zone for honest folk, and that the streets are a melting pot of crime and danger. In fact, the central business district is a vibrant, pleasant place to shop and work. The streets are clean, the sun shines and people are friendly and helpful.
If, like me, the sterile echoes of crowds sealed in a glass shopping mall make you panicky and the heady whiff of melting credit cards makes you nauseous, head for the city centre. It really is the best place to shop in Nelspruit and, most importantly, there are bargains to be had.
There are some ground rules about spending time in the city:
Ama-attitude
Shopping is best enjoyed on a mid-week morning with a slight attitude adjustment. I make like the queen of England and walk confidently, smiling and waving at everyone. I like to think this has two benefits. Firstly, I’m always thrilled and amazed at how genuinely friendly everyone is, from fellow shoppers to car guards and hawkers; and secondly, I like to think the unsettling image of a noisy white woman with an idiotic grin puts any dodgy, dishonest types on the back foot.
Street style
If you want to parade in a pair of precarious heels with a precious Prada handbag while talking to a friend on your cell phone, go to a shopping mall. That is why God created them (in a moment of madness, just after he made sharks).
Shopping downtown and rummaging for a bargain requires urban style. To earn street-cred and appreciative glances from other female shoppers, make sure your hair looks good, wear a pair of trendy jeans and decent earrings. Do not dress like a tourist with elephant-shaped jewellery, shorts or a new bush hat.
Carry a small, secure handbag containing just the bare necessities and take a larger shopping bag for purchases that can be carried snugly under the shoulder. Don’t forget to smile and wave. When was the last time anyone tried to nick Queen Elizabeth’s handbag?
Parking off
Driving in town is neither dangerous nor crazy. Now I admit I have an old, battered car and I am a superb parallel parker (naturally). However, there are many gorgeous, gleaming and expensive cars cruising around and badly parked all over town, unmolested.
If you are the anxious type with a brand new luxury car, park in the Promenade Centre in Samora Machel Avenue. The parking is enclosed and secure, and the guards and attendants are very friendly. With your wheels safely parked, you are free to explore downtown Nellies. The Promenade Centre also has safe and clean public toilets on the first floor – and for R2 you can spend a penny, mid-shop.
Retail therapy
The centre of Nelspruit still has the best Edgars in the lowveld, a superb Woolworths and Mr Price, and a recently renovated Truworths (with a wonderful Daniel Hechter department). The best big retailers are still to be found in Brown, Bester and Paul Kruger streets, mixed in with some terrific small, unique shops. Designer Africa in Brown Street is a dress-maker’s paradise with some seriously funky African-inspired fabrics.
First Fashions in the Promenade Centre often has over-runs from South Africa’s top fashion stores and many imports from British high-street retailers at a fraction of the usual store price. You have to dig about a bit and check sizes, but you will find some real gems.
Omgee is a shoe shop in the Promenade that stocks fabulous and bizarre footwear and bags by a range of manufacturers (including Zoom) at really decent prices, and is great for anyone with a teenage daughter or a shoe fetish.
Cool crafts
Mbombela Municipality has designated two areas in the CBD – at the Promenade Centre and in Sitrus Street – as official craft markets. The traders at the Promenade have a nice selection of wire sculpture, beaded hats and sandals.
My personal favourite is the Sitrus Street market, behind the Pick ’n Pay and Game centre. There is a great mix of crafters and stallholders, and it has easy parking. You can shoot the breeze with Daniel from Lover’s Shoe Repairs while he re-heels your designer shoes, or ask Tuckie from KaNyamazane to re-string your bathroom blinds. Gorgeous impala lilies cost only R40 and cool T-shirts emblazoned with reggae legends Bob Marley and Peter Tosh are for sale.
Sharp-sharp shopping
Some of the best places to shop downtown are the wholesalers, hawkers’ stalls and small shops. Nelspruit has a shopping vibe that easily rivals trendy Maputo, and it is cleaner and friendlier. There are no dodgy muti stalls, shifty policemen or open drains.
No morning in the city would be complete without a wander down Henshall and Andrew streets. Grab a huge, juicy pear for R3 from one of the many smiling fruit hawkers and take a walk.
There are seriously kitsch imports from China, bags, belts and beads. A good tailor called Lukeman will take up a pair of trousers for R20, and Ibrahim Mohammed sells delicious cooked chicken and fresh white loaves for R4,50 from his sparkly-clean shop and bakery on Andrew Street.
Opposite the railway station, the whistling soap-jockeys give cars a serious valet for R60. The barbers who operate on the pavement outside the taxi rank on Andrew Street tweeze ladies eyebrows for R5. Go on, I dare you.
And once you’re all shopped out, you can get a free 40-minute heat massage using high-tech Ceragem equipment supplied by a South Korean non-governmental organisation that operates from a large, converted shop in Henshall Street. Stretched out with a warm massage pad revitalising your energy fields, you can chat and sort out the world’s problems with a jolly gogo or a local bus driver. The experience is sure to leave you feeling more relaxed and healthy than your bank balance.
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