The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

Designer shoe shops in Cairo are few and far between, but the fastest growing shopping mall in Cairo houses one of the world’s best. Born at number 9 of West 57th Street, New York in 1978, Nine West is famous in over 60 countries for it’s quality women’s shoes and handbags. They’ve even opened up several branches all over Cairo, converting run way trends to high street fashion. Nestled on the third floor or Heliopolis’ Sun City Mall, Nine West is uniform with all it’s other franchises with simple, chrome signage, an all glass front and immaculate displays within.

The window displays draw fashionistas in with an eclectic mix of styles; glitzy party shoes, formal heels and brightly coloured, summery sandals. As soon as we entered, a welcoming shop assistant pointed us in the direction of their new collection and proceeded to linger close by should we have needed to try anything on.

The majority of the summer collection was fun and colourful, whilst largely remaining practical. A pair of stripy, nautical-looking, slip-on wedges was fairly expensive at 999LE, whilst brightly coloured crochet pumps were 499LE. Plain, flat, soft leather moccasins were available in black, white and navy (699LE) and for a different look, pretty round-toe, beaded pumps were priced the same.

Neon coloured (369LE), as well as metallic gold and silver (599LE) t-bar flip-flops were amongst the beach footwear; some beaded, strappy sandals with turquoise and gold detailing caught our eye (599LE). Kitten heeled sandals were also aplenty which confused us slightly as to whether kitten heels were in fashion, or indeed if they ever left. 

Nine West also stocks an abundance of simple black heels – a wardrobe essential. We spotted a pair of average height, patent black heels for 699LE, whilst a matte leather pair was going for the same price, and a pointy, black satin pair with a bow on the front was 599LE. A simple, delicate strappy pair with black beads on the heel was retailing at 799LE. On the other end of the spectrum, a pair of skyscraper platforms, embellished all over with gold glitter was 839LE.

Most of the shoes had a small clutch bag conveniently placed next to them in order to complete the set, starting at 400LE. Other than glitzy purses, Nine West was a little thin on the bag front, although we did spy a very large, brown leather handbag (599LE) amongst neon and grey totes, boat-patterned beach bags and various other casual handbags, although nothing really struck us as being particularly fabulous.

While most tastes can be catered for in their Sun City Mall branch, quality oozed from some pieces, but was often lacking in others. Nine West’s prices are certainly more on the expensive side; however, if you’re looking for a tasteful pair of shoes for any occasion, Nine West could be considered a good starting point.