If you’ve ever wondered what’s in that long-ass ugly block of a building next to Liberty Cinema – this post is going to take you through it – here you’ll find handcrafts, travel agencies, a shipping surveyor, a whole floor of vegetables, another full of butchers, shops that sell colourful buckets and mops, grocery stores, Chinese grocery stores – and then unexpectedly – rare and awesome food products imported from Italy, Australia and the UAE.
The ground floor
The ground floor has got a series of tiny shops alongside large ones like Anusha Handcrafts. You’ll find plenty of travel agencies here who are quite popular and offer good deals. Some of them are run by Chinese folks as are many of the stalls inside the Kollupitiya Market building.
You also get slippers, bags, sunglasses and watches here, quite cheap, quite colourful, as though little bits of Pettah have snuck into Kollupitiya.
The chaos inside
The building isn’t usually so inviting because of the haphazard feel of things when you walk in. Everything’s a bit damp, the place is teeming with vendors, and some of them have set up their work stations randomly on parts of the floor. However it’s known that the vegetables and fruits you get here, on the first floor, are generally quite fresh and not as expensive as elsewhere.
The second floor is a meat market. There’s the vague smell of fish, the meat tables are tiled, and the floors are wet, because that’s how most butcher shops roll – not exactly the most hygienic place in the world, but again, fresh products promised here.
The third floor is quieter and cleaner. You’ll find a few workers carrying boxes here and there, some textiles shops, a place that will maintain your ship if you’ve got one, a Chinese trading center, grocery stores, and two fantastic supermarkets.
Branas & Beemas
Branas and Beemas are two supermarkets in the corner of the third floor. In here, you’ll find some amazing stuff at great prices. From rare Italian cheeses and biscuits, to gourmet sauces and syrups, marshmallow sticks from Dubai, and special nachos you can’t find anywhere else — these guys have got it. And you don’t have to wring your wallet dry for it either.
Conclusion
The Kollupitiya Market is an awesome place to go to check out all the cool stuff they have in their third floor supermarkets. It’s also a great place for bucket enthusiasts.
