Another old market in Old Dhaka is the Roy Shahab Bazaar. It was named after a famous landlord, Mr. Roy Shahab Bahadur, of the British period. At this time the market was patronized by the local elites.. However, with the establishment of East Pakistan in 1947 there were communal riots and the Hindus left the area and migrated to India. Subsequently people falsely claimed ownership of the bazaar but when this was resolved it reverted to the city. Now the Roy Shahab Bazaar is controlled by Dhaka City Corporation.
There are 300 shops inside and about 400 shops along the roadside of Roy Shahab Bazaar. Rice, vegetables, fish and all daily needs are available here. Some stationery, groceries, fruit shops and restaurant are also found here.
Roy Shahab Bazaar is mainly famous for vegetable and hardware shops. This is the one market that serves the other wholesale hardware markets of the country. There are about 70 wholesale hardware shops and a huge number of vegetable, fish, chicken and general shops in this market. Nat-boltu, chatki, zinari, pipes, haturi and other many iron things are on sale here.
This market starts everyday at 8:00 am and closes at 8:00 pm. Friday is the weekly holiday of Ray Shahab Bazaar