Gardens Shopping Centre is the City Bowl's most popular shopping oasis. A stone's throw from Cape Town's original 17th Century provisioning hub, the Company Gardens, it is also one of the city's most established shopping centres and as quintessentially Cape Town as Table Mountain.

Uptown from a bustling CBD, it is the preferred haunt of many who live or work in the city environs. An office-from-home for local business and a convenient stop en route home for Southern Suburbanites it is a short and safe walk from major hotels and guesthouses in the area, making it a natural port of call for visitors and tourists.

Though it has seen major improvements over the past few years, the essential character of the centre remains the same - a place to be and be seen; a cosmopolitan café society; hang-out for the well-known and well-heeled and a quiet, personal shopping alternative to sprawling malls elsewhere in Cape Town.

Regular customers visit the Centre for its often unique high-street, boutique-style offerings - like an authentic German Deli, a specialist arts and crafts supplier, the city's largest party goods shop, as well a legendary health store. There are some 85 specialist shops - from a tobacconist and chocolateur to fashion, homewares, decor and gift stores whose goods often grace the pages of fashion & lifestyle magazines.

For daily essentials, grocery chains and smaller shops offer everything from DIY, hardware, and stationery to dry cleaning, while business service stores include copy & printing, show travel and flight bookings, forex and all local banking. An optometrist, pharmacy, general practitioner, dentist, attorney, beautician and various hairdressers are also available.

One of the city's favourite meeting places, the centre boasts 5 eateries - from a popular internet cafe to 3 coffee venue ideal for business lunch, breakfasts (or even a cigarette.) to an authentic North Indian restaurant and a barrow-style patisserie.

Situated on a main arterial route, less than 1km off De Waal Drive, there is ample multi-level parking, while ramps and lifts make for wheelchair-friendly shopping. Climate-controlled, the the centre an ideal respite for shopping during the Cape's wet, hot or windy seasons.