KARACHI - Bazaar - Travel Guide :-> ApnaPakistani.net

Bazaars

Those of you who would like to shop Karachi style or for the local kind of stuff checkout these bazaars

Empress Market
Bohri Bazaar
Zainab Market
Co-operative Market

Empress Market

This huge, bustling Pakistani market is located in Saddar. It is essentially a food
market and sells all manner of products from fruit and vegetables to fish, poultry
and red meat as well as canned/tinned goods, house wares and spices. Shopping
there is a real experience although, as the market is very large, it can be a little
intimidating. We suggest that you make your first visit with a friend who shops
there regularly.

Coolies (men who for a small fee will carry all your shopping) wait outside. Many people have a specific coolie whom they use on every visit. The meat halls can become unpleasant in the hot season. Many people therefore ask their coolie to bring their meat/fish order to them while they are shopping for vegetables etc., to save them having to enter the meat halls.

Friends can recommend coolies who have regularly provided them with good meat. The spice hall is worth visiting (and photographing) with high cone shaped piles of the various spices. Dried fruits and nuts are always available in abundance and many of the small grocer stalls occasionally get imported goods which are not available in the Clifton shops. Remember, the meat halls close on meatless days although fish and chicken are still sold.

Bohri Bazaar

Close to Empress market, this bazaar comprises hundreds of small shops in a maze of narrow streets which sell a whole variety of goods, ranging from house wares, pots and pans, crockery, cutlery, plastic items, silk flowers cottons, sheets, buttons, threads and all sewing requirements. On the main road is a shop which sells embroidery threads. As it is easy to get lost here, again we would suggest that you make your first visit with a friend who knows her way around. Do not forget to bargain. It is amazing what can be found in this bazaar including second hand designer label swimsuits!

Zainab Market

This market is a real Aladdin’s cave. It sells mainly traditional Pakistani handicrafts and has a huge range of silk paintings, onyx, hangings, bedspreads, Kashmiri shawls, papier-mâché, etc. Remember that this is where a lot of tourists shop and the initial price quoted to you could be two or three times higher then the real price. Bargain hard. One part of this market also sells cheap ready made western clothes fir ladies, gents and children shorts, T shirts, leggings blouses, etc. Although the quality is often not high, they are cheap and suitable for the hot weather here.

Co-operative Market

This market is slightly further down Abdullah Haroon Road from Zainab. Shops are located on two levels and they sell a variety of Pakistani wares, from onyx to brass, wood carvings, lower quality of other wooden items, men’s clothing material, shawls, etc. Like Zainab, this market caters to tourists. Be prepared to bargain.