Dhaka Markets’ Streets

Most streets of Dhaka, except some areas of the new Dhaka, have a street market operating to meet the daily needs of the nearby inhabitants. Although the markets are officially illegal they provide an important service as well as a livelihood for a huge number people in Dhaka City, particularly among recent migrants from the villages. Government have tried but failed to evict these markets, largely because they are popular and provide employment. There is no doubt the street markets are one of the main causes of heavy traffic congestion but people on the whole are prepared to live with this feature of modern Dhaka if other services are provided. Moreover, there is another, hidden cause relating to the markets that involves political uses, corruption and taking chada (regular amounts of so-called protection money from the street shopkeepers) by local goondas (gangsters) and terrorists, which is a major concern for the city administration.

Mirpur-10 Gulchakkar, the centre point of Mirpur, is one of the busiest areas of Dhaka City. For this reason, it is heavily populated with crowds of people from morning to evening. In the early morning and the afternoon the area becomes totally filled up with buses, garment workers, rickshaw pullers, other workers and slum dwellers along with office employees. For this reason alone 5-7 P.M is the peak time for the street markets. The marginalized communities of the city don’t have ability to go ‘brand shopping’, so they come regularly to these markets to buy products, particularly dresses and fashion products at cheaper prices. They don’t care about lasting quality, as they know the price is very low and the items easily replaced.

The Mirpur Street Market is the second biggest street market of the city. Family wear, toys, cosmetics, fashion products along with many other products are available along with fruits, books, tea, and pirated CDs/DVDs. Approximately 700 types products are on sale in the floating shops of the street markets. The markets are open everyday from 7:00 AM and until 11:00 PM.

Mirpur-10 is not a market but an avenue with four roads connecting it to the major suburbs of Dhaka meaning it is densely packed with shops, plaza, hawker stalls and street food vendors. The area is generally known as Mirpur Gulchokkor (four way over-bridge). The view from the over-bridge shows scenes of a market with huge number of clients and many floating shops, selling a vast array of goods, on the footpaths. This is the second largest street market in Dhaka City after the Gulistan Street Market.

Mirpur’s position is to the west of the central part of Dhaka. House rents and the cost of living are expensive in central Dhaka so many people have moved to Mirpur, Uttora and Savar where things are generally cheaper. There are many garment industry factories in these suburbs, which have a number of slums where the marginalized communities live particularly rickshaw pullers, hawker and garment workers. There are a number of small shopping centers, which service this clientele. The local elites generally do their marketing in new Uttara malls or in central Dhaka.

The Mirpur 10 Street area is famous for fruits and garment products All kinds of local and foreign fruits are on sale here. In addition pirated CDs/DVDs, electronics, crockery, fast food outlets, restaurants, bookstalls, stationery shops and many other products are available in this area. The markets are famous for low prices There are also many tea wallahs, jalmuri wallahs, piara wallahs active in the area providing both the shopkeepers and customers with cheap snacks.

Among the small shopping centers the best known are Shah Ali Plaza and Anwar Mansion, which have about 400 shops between them. Saturday is the weekly holiday for this market.

North Tower is the most up market shopping mall of Uttara. This is a twelve-storied tower with the first six floors used as a shopping mall and the rest used as offices by a variety of companies. This is the biggest shopping mall in Uttara sub town. As this tower is located on the northern border of Dhaka City it was named North Tower.

North Tower is a place where all kinds of products are sold including food and daily household products. There are also a lot of shops selling mobile phones, jewelry and electronics. The center has become place where boys and girls meet, especially in the cafés and music shops, to socialise. About 200 shops can be found in this shopping mall where around 500 people work.

This tower has a good security system. North Tower operates everyday between 9:30 AM and 8:00 PM.

Within one decade Uttara has become as busy as the main city, Dhaka. A large number of modern shopping centers and high-rise buildings have been established in the downtown area. Mascot Plaza is one of the better-known modern shopping centers where a family can shop for a wide range of goods. As a result it has become a reference shopping center. This multistoried shopping center was established in 2001 at Uttara sector-9, built in Middle East style of architecture. In fact the whole plaza has a touch of the Middle East about it.

There are about 220 shops in mall, which targets the upper end of the market and services all sectors Abdullahpur, Ashkuna, Chalabon, Tongi and adjacent areas. There are many famous jewelry shops on the third floor and it has become the second most important gold market in Dhaka. The plaza also features famous Bangladeshi fashion brands like Arong, Cates Eye and Kay Crafts. The fifth floor is taken up by Arong, which specializes in Bangladeshi Fashion and Handicrafts. Generally the floors tend to specialise in a product. There is a luxurious fast food corner and a coffee shop where young couples meet to chat in afternoon.

However, hawkers generally ” cigarette wallahs ” and “Jalmuri wallahs” (Jalmuri is a Bangladeshi hot spicy rice product) have colonized the front of the market. Mascot Plaza opens at 9:00 AM and closes at 9:00 PM. Saturday is its weekly holiday.

The Bangladesh government established the Haji Camp in1998 to accommodate the large number of Muslim pilgrims traveling between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia for the Hajj. Haji Camp Bazaar was established just opposite the Haji camp at the same time as the camp was created. During the Hajj the market becomes very busy, as it is full of Hajis.

It was first known as Muktijudhdha Shopping Market but its popular name the Haji Camp Bazaar caught on. However, it is only one market in the Ashkona residential area of Uttara. Along with rice, vegetables, fish, meat and all kinds of daily needs and fashion products, toys, CDs, medicine, sweetmeats are available in this market. The market opens at 6:00 AM daily and closes at 8:00 PM.

In 2006 in the period of Caretaker Government another general market was established in the area, managed by the BDR that was commissioned to sell products at a fair price. The market was originally managed by the BDR (Bangladesh Rifles, the paramilitary border protection force) but it is now coordinated by the Bazaar Committee. It is open all day and is very busy as it tends to cater to the middle and lower classes, unlike the other Uttara markets which tend to cater to the upper classes

Besides the main Bazaar, there are many floating shops of fruit, cloths, tea-stall and Bangla snacks (piaju, puri, shingara shops), which stretch from the market to the rail crossing. There is no holiday of this market. The Haji Market is open at all times whereas the BDR Market closes on Fridays.

The modernization of Uttara began about twenty years ago with the establishment of a few modern shopping centers. The Raj Laxmi complex, owned by the famous Bangladeshi film star Nayok Raj Razzique was one of the first modern shopping centers in Uttara. This multistoried shopping center was established in 1991 and began full operations in 1993. The shopping centre has become a landmark and the Uttara Sector-3 is now known as Rajlaxmi bus stand.

Initially only the first only first two floors were used as a market and other floors were devoted to the garment industry. Over time the garment areas closed and all the floors became part of the shopping market.

On the ground floor are a number of fast food shops, a bakery, and shops given over to confectionary, cosmetics, gifts, toys and shoes. Ready made garments shops, shoes shops and fashion items are found on the first floor. The second floor is devoted exclusively to ladies and gents’ cloths while the third floor is used for shops selling mobile phones and a mobile service center. The fourth floor has variety shops and a Chinese restaurant and the last floor is used as offices for travel agents and estate agents. There are about 350 shops in this market, which opens at 9:00 AM and closes at 9:00 PM.

There are many small shops attached to this market and hawker stalls are found on the roadside, the walkway and under the over bridge. Fruit juice, fruit shops, bookstalls, and flower shops proliferate in these spaces.

Dhaka City is expanding in all directions due to its ever-increasing population through migration from the countryside. Most people don’t have the ability to buy land in the main city but have a desire to live in the capital. As a result there are huge new housing estates appearing on the periphery of the city in places such as Uttara. Along with the housing come the markets and business centers. A major issue in this development is the question of infrastructure, which architects and town planners are trying to address, sometimes with success.

Khilkhet is a famous bazaar in Uttara. Although Khilkhet Bazaar looks old it is in fact new. Unfortunately the local road is not in good condition, and with a little rain, the road becomes muddy. Despite this the area is developing rapidly and there are multistoried buildings in the area including the five star Dhaka Regency Hotel which is located just behind Khilkhet general market. There are also modern restaurants, education centers, shops and a shopping mall adjacent to the Bazaar, catering to an expanding population.

There is a rail line with the rail crossing making it at a high-risk area, but the local people don’t seem to care about this. There is a bridge over the rail line beside Khilkhet Bazaar, close to the market, which has also become market of floating shops for cloths, fruits, books, and newspapers. Beside this bazaar a shopping market named Mannan Shopping Center, which specializes in gifts and crockery, ceramics, cosmetics, ladies and gents garments.

There are about 300 shops in this bazaar. It opens at 7:00 AM and runs until 10:30 PM. Vegetables, fish, meat, rice and all kind of daily necessary products available here.

Rampura is famous for housing the BTV (Bangladesh Television), the national broadcasting television’s head office, which is a major landmark in Dhaka. Rampura has become an important business and residential area. Although the roadside areas are decorated with different shops Rampura is essentially a business center. Recently the main roads area behind the bazaar has become a highly desired residential area although the quality of infrastructure remains poor. A major issue is the lack of standard sanitation, particularly in front of the market.

The Rampura Bazaar has many small roadside markets, which play an important role in local life. There are around one hundred vegetable, fish, meat and cooking product shops in the area and a large number of fruit shops on the road that runs parallel to the main road. These shops meet the immediate needs of the local residents. There are also many mobile vegetable and fish hawkers selling their products in the area.

Like other general markets, Rampura Bazaar’s opening time is 8:00 am and it closes at 9:00 pm, everyday of the week. This Bazaar is also called Municipality Bazaar as it is managed by the Dhaka Municipality Corporation.

Although Badda stands just besides the aristocratic Gulshan area it is not fully developed and remains an old-fashioned Dhaka market where the life style, culture and infrastructure are distinctly traditional. Moreover the bazaar seems to have been by-passed by modern communications and consumerism. The Madha Badda Bazaar is a roadside bazaar that stretches from the main road to the nearby residential area.
In total there are 200 shops and the modern Lutfun Shopping Center increases the value of Madha Badda Bazaar; although only two floors are used for the market.

Rice shops, grocery, stationery, restaurants, and tea-stalls and daily needs makes Madha Baddha Bazzar like most other Dhaka markets servicing local communities. The product price is less in this market than most and even though it is small it attracts the local people and is consistently busy.
Madha Badda Bazzar may be called a street market because of its location, mainly on the roadside and space is limited.

Badda Bazaar is open everyday from 8.00am to 9.00 pm .

Uploaded on Aug 3, 2009

Gulshan is the centre of upper class Dhaka City as well being the main expatriate area, housing most of the embassies. Consequently Gulshan Market caters for this clientele with lots of foreign products on sale. Generally the market sells high quality goods and there are even uncommon vegetables available in the Gulshan market for sale to its foreign clients.

The DCC market is comparatively big and modern with a two-storied well-decorated market building. In front of the market there is a large parking space. The market is divided into two parts; one is a general market selling a wide range of products and the other is a fashion products market. Both sectors are geared to the expatriate market.

Another part of this market on the upper floor, is famous for ladies and gents wear, household products, crockery, furnishings, electronics, fashion items, toys, cosmetics, jewelry, sports good and gymnasium supplies. There are also restaurants and fast food shops.

In front of this market and by the roadside there are many temporary food shops, tea-stalls, fruit shops and hawker stalls. The market’s is owned and managed by Dhaka City Corporation ( DCC ). There is also a beautiful Mosque in the market area.

Friday is the holiday of this market. This market opens at 8.00AM and closes at 9.00pm.