Imported or manufactured goods are usually sold wholesale from the Tehran Grand Bazaar (Bâzâr-e Bororg-e Tehrân), which is the commercial heart of Tehran and of the whole of Iran. Some provincial bazaars are centuries old, but the Tehran Grand Bazaar developed from clusters of specialty small craft markets about 150 years ago near the then seat of Qajar royalty, the Golestân Palace (which is just up the road and well worth a visit).
The bazaar is a maze of narrow alleys in which small shops and stalls sell goods and commodities. Some alleys take their name from the goods sold there, for example, Bâzâr-e Mesgar-hâ (coppersmiths’ market) or from a famous person. The visual effects of the bazaar range from the dazzling, as in the goldsmiths’ market, to the uniformly muted, as in Kilo-ee-ha Alley, where shops stock only black chador fabric, and everything in between: shoes, clothes, household goods, stationery, and anything else you can imagine.
Some stalls sell on a retail basis, but many others are only shop windows—they showcase the merchandise available in the large storerooms that wholesalers maintain elsewhere and only sell to these potential wholesale buyers.
In addition to the wholesale and retail shops, the bazaar contains banking and credit facilities, where prices for gold, commodities, staple goods, and foreign exchange rates are determined and influence nationwide prices. Thus, the Tehran Grand Bazaar is the financial heart of the whole country, much like Wall Street or the City of London.
The bâzâri class includes those employed in wholesale trade and financial institutions, workshop owners, distributors, and middlemen, and they represent the solid, conservative social strata. Traditionally, the bâzâri families have enjoyed familial ties with the clerical class (ulemâ) and, exercising their financial muscle in conjunction with the ulema’s spiritual influence, have often brought pressure to bear on the Iranian monarchy’s autocratic tendencies.
Bargaining for Discount: Normal Procedure of Shopping in Iran
