Shankar Plaza | শংকর প্লাজা: Nijam’s Shankar Plaza is situated opposite the famous Chayanot Cultural Building, beside Satmasjid Road. This seven storied commercial building was built in 2003.
A small shopping market can be found on the first two floor of Nijam’s Shankar Plaza. All kinds of shirts, pants, sari, shalwar kameezes, babies’ wear; fashion wear and fashion products, cosmetics, stationery, shoes, movies and many other commodities are on sale in this market. Besides these, sweetmeats shop, beauty parlors, a food corner, a restaurant and a cyber café are also available in this market. A health diagnostic center occupies the 3rd and 5th floors while the Center for Computer Service (CCS) is found on the 4th floor. A private university, UDA, occupies the sixth and seventh floors. Friday is the holiday of Shankar Plaza. Except for Friday the commercial building opens at 9:00 AM and closes at 10 PM regularly.
There are a bus stand, a taxi stand and a rickshaw stand located just in front of Shankar Plaza. This place is one of the busiest places in Dhanmondi. Bangla food shops, grocery shops, fruits and vegetable shops, meat shops, a bank booth, tea stalls, capture the spirit of Shankar. These illegal and unofficial shops make walking freely very difficult, something compounded by the constant rickshaw jam outside the bazaar.
Change has come to the area with the rapid development of modern apartments along the street. But compared to most areas of Dhanmondi the location is not well- developed as the housing, shopping and lifestyle have generally inherited the old tradition. As the house rent is low, a huge number of low salaried people live in the Shankar area.