One would imagine the tacky clothes displayed in the shop windows on Talaat Harb Street to be affordable, considering the obvious bad quality of the garments on show and their delirious mix of colors.
The sexy tops, for example, covered with splashes of glitter that can only be worn with a tight-fitting lycra turtleneck (for modesty), or the “princess kitsch” dress, preferably in gold with a huge diamond sewn onto the front, are only appetizers for the marvels that can be discovered while window-shopping in downtown Cairo.
But if you pay closer attention to the price tags dangling from the garments on sale, you are likely to feel bewildered. And for those in the know, there is simply no need to spend LE60 to LE90 for a psychedelic t-shirt “a la mode égyptienne,” when great quality and brands that actually ring a bell are only a stone’s throw away and available at an unbeatable price in Bulaq, one of the oldest northern quarters of Cairo.
The neighbourhood’s appellation is either a transformation of the French “beau lac” (beautiful lake), or derived from the ancient Egyptian word for “anchor,” which is also plausible as Boulaq was a major commercial port under the Mamaluk reign.
Today, the bling-bling motorboats screaming “Al 3enab” lined up along the corniche are the only traces of Bulaq’s past maritime glory.
The bustling neighbourhood, which combines old buildings blackened with encrusted layers of fumes, and modern-concrete architecture like the home of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is a vibrant commercial area, rocked by the incessant and deafening noise of traffic.
But Boulaq’s “raison d’être” lies on its sidewalk, crammed with racks bending under the weight of leather-jackets, velvet pants and wool sweaters by the thousand.
Under the bridge leading to Zamalek, the shops are crammed in and each uses a sizable portion of the sidewalk to pack their rails, forcing pedestrians to skilfully dodge a hesitant customer here, a hunk of meat hanging from a butcher’s hook there, or simply a big puddle of dirty water.
The magic of Bulaq also lies in its apparent disinterest in brands, which makes it possible for a brand-new Ralph Lauren polo to be pressed against a KFC T-shirt without surprising anyone. Also, only in Bulaq can a basic winter fleecy jacket cost the same price as a fluffy 100% cashmere sweater - on average a mere LE25.
The reason for this obvious lack of interest has to do with Port Said. In fact, most of the clothes imported from Europe and the States transit in Port Said where they are bought in blocks of 100 items before landing in Bulaq.
Mahmoud is the owner of a shop that specializes in jeans. The blue denim fabric is all over the place, folded in neat piles, hanging from the walls, and lined up on the racks outside. He explains that “the clothes come from the West, and most of the second-hand ones were given to charities before being shipped to Port Said.”
A quick perusal of the surrounding racks, sprouting Italian, English, French and German brands, confirms Mahmoud's words. He also sells a lot of brand new jeans.
Mahmoud mentions a German company called “Only,” based in 6th of October City, that specializes in manufacturing jeans. Part of its production is exported to Europe, while the rest is sold in regular shops in Egypt for a price three to four times higher than the ones sold in Bulaq, which have flaws and have failed the quality control test.
“To give you an example, regular “Only” jeans are sold for LE180 downtown, but in Bulaq the same jeans with an unnoticeable fault can be bought for LE35,” he says, stretching some fabric to show its quality.
A stroll through Bulaq also gives potential customers an idea of how alert shop owners are, especially when a very recognizable pick-up truck with “Police” emblazoned on its sides enters the area.
It is better not to be immersed in a sea of racks when that happens, for they are all vigorously pushed back into the shops while the young police officers grin at the state of panic they have created.
Mohamed, a shop owner who sells a vast array of large-size winter coats and tremendously sexy lingerie, has just pulled his racks back inside and his forehead is wet with effort. “The police are after us - not for selling the clothes,” he explains, panting. “What bothers them is that we block the passage with our racks, blocking pedestrians and cars,” he says, pointing at the vast area of Bulaq El Gedida Street.
Only two minutes have passed since the police left the area, and already thousands of racks have been rolled back into place, filling the space entirely with colourful silk pyjamas, series of sweat pants, thousands of galabeyas and copious business jackets.
A German woman at the corner of one rack is methodically reviewing the clothes, looking for her dream cashmere sweater. She recalls once hearing that the Hilton's general manager shopped in Bulaq. “I have been living in Egypt for many years," she says, while still scrutinizing the clothes in front of her, "and I have come to the conclusion that the best quality garments are to be found here,” she adds with a connoisseur's smile.
posted
Have you been there? I have - I got lost up there on the way to Shubra one night
It's like Walthamstow Market or that place everyone raves about in England - TKMax? that I hate - on acid. Just millions and billions of racks and racks of clothes everywhere. My idea of hell but I guess a lot of people might like it - I never have enjoyed 'rummaging'.
Just for info - the streets have no names and do not appear on the maps. Be prepared for a lot of walking if you go in the dark and get totally lost. On the other hand, when I did get hopelessly lost, I asked some guys in a coffee shop and one of them walked 15 minutes with me (no hassle) to the main road and waited with me to get a bus to Ramses.
Posts: 5593 | From: Egypt | Registered: Dec 2005
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Oh I miss TK Maxx so much. I thought they had arrived in Cairo when I saw a bag of rubbish in the street with their brand name written across it. On closer inspection it said TJ Maxx, sadly just another copy.
I love rummaging for treasures Posts: 588 | From: an oasis near the pyramids | Registered: Oct 2005
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quote:Originally posted by samaka: Oh I miss TK Maxx so much. I thought they had arrived in Cairo when I saw a bag of rubbish in the street with their brand name written across it. On closer inspection it said TJ Maxx, sadly just another copy.
I love rummaging for treasures
Me too!!! we have a really big one near us and i love all the books they have Posts: 140 | From: Ireland | Registered: Nov 2009
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Depends what you mean by flea market. It's just millions and billions of racks of clothes! New or 'seconds'. Not secondhand.
Posts: 5593 | From: Egypt | Registered: Dec 2005
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I just DID it 2 days ago. Hubby was with me and now he FORBID me go near Citystars EVER again and please do all my shopping there .
It was first working day after Coptic Eid and we were there quite early, around 11.00 AM, so there were not quite gazillion racks out yet but anyway it took us nearly 2 hours to cover that bit of street not more than 300 m long I think. I did not really even want anything, just went to have a look for future (summer season???) but anyway we ended up with HUGE bags because all items were more or less either 20, 25 or 30LE, and some were GEMS. Picked up some fleeces in the very beginning - stuff you do not find in our little town, esp. in huge male sizes. Am not quite sure if these were second hand or "seconds" but anyway we needed some for home use, and fleeces are a wonder to wash and simply so convenient with the humid cold out here. Picked up a 100% shetland wool sweater for hubby next, totally new, wonderful colours, wonderfully soft. Some kind of (I imagine) less known quality brand for casual wear. Then a sweater for me too, took it because it was in these earthy mud tones that I usually like, and was an equal mix of wool, acrylic and alpaca (! happen to be crazy for exclusive natural materials). It is only at home that I noticed it is a Maxmara Weekend, probably costs from around 1000LE and upwards in Europe. OK, in Cairo it never gets cold enough to wear it, but out here it is good for those "in bed with flu" days or a mid-winter grill night up on roof.
Then what essentially made the day for us - a Helly Hansen down jacket for hubby, again I imagine 1-2000LE in Europe. The hood was missing but you do not need one here anyway. It hung basically in the middle of the street but I suppose people here do not know the good brands from sight, and they do not know down . It cost us a bit over 100LE :-O and is perfect for hubby to wear when he needs to set out for travels in the countryside early in cold winter mornings, +5...+10 outside.
Then some insignificant small items on the go - sweaters, velveteen trousers etc. Spotted Benetton, MEXX and the like quite often, a (natural) silk and cotton mix sweater, quite a lot of cashmere mixes but not full deals (but then I did not really look at sweaters, too).
Will be quite axcited to go for summer "finds" but yes, you have to love to browse. I do, I feel so bored if I enter a shop and immediately I understand their total concept and what I shall find (or not find) there. Plus that great natural materials are really rare here.
Finished off our day at Sangria, it is on Corniche, precisely opposite the Conrad hotel, a bit before Arkadia mall. A bit pricey - hubby declined to go to Marriott garden terrace thinking either it would be too expensive or perhaps intimidate the young "baladi" couple accompanying us; well, perhaps. But here we also ended up paying 500LE for just 4 persons - main course and water and tea. Main courses were OK between 60-90LE and huge and tasty, and the Chinse style grilled calamari was served in form of huge flower-like chunks spread over spicy sauce dotted with colourful wok vegetables - feast for eyes, too. But e.g. Stella cost 38LE, a cappucino 25 and a simple tea 15LE, which I find a bit steep, a Nile-side club is not a Four Seasons after all, or what? And Cairo is not Venice, St Mark's square. I do not think Hyatt charges more than 25 for a beer, retail price being around 5-6-7 LE.
Though it was perhaps pretty "hip" most people seemed to arrive in BMWs or similar and they have valet parking.. No wonder then when we arrived in our run-down black and white Cairo taxi full of our "shopping" in what looked exactly like black rubbish bags and hubby belted out of the front window - hey, is the kitchen open yet, we would like some food? ...the staff at the gate totally ignored us. But they did let us in , and even allowed us leave the "rubbish" bags at the gate house. Was a nice "outing" for village people like us. Posts: 1051 | From: Menoufeya | Registered: Feb 2005
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quote:Originally posted by samaka: Oh I miss TK Maxx so much. I thought they had arrived in Cairo when I saw a bag of rubbish in the street with their brand name written across it. On closer inspection it said TJ Maxx, sadly just another copy.
It would appear to be the other way around. TJ MAXX was founded in 1976 in Massachusetts, while TK MAXX opened in Bristol in 1994. Actually the parent company of TK MAXX is TJ MAXX in the US who chose to change a letter of the name in the Europe chain in order to avoid confusion with the TJ Hughes chain.
Posts: 1626 | From: whatever, wherever | Registered: Jul 2008
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Ok TJ Maxx, TK Maxx, whatever, I really miss it, I bought some fabulous clothes there. Posts: 588 | From: an oasis near the pyramids | Registered: Oct 2005
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My favourite shops in America were Nordstrom and Lord and Taylor. Those were the days when the English pound bought a lot of things in department stores and shopping in New York was cheap.
Posts: 588 | From: an oasis near the pyramids | Registered: Oct 2005
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quote:Originally posted by samaka: My favourite shops in America were Nordstrom and Lord and Taylor. Those were the days when the English pound bought a lot of things in department stores and shopping in New York was cheap.
I shop at Nordstrom online,as well as others.
Ok,my nick is Sashyra8 and i confess i'm a shopaholic,specially an online one. Posts: 3833 | From: here,there,everywhere | Registered: Nov 2007
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quote:Originally posted by samaka: My favourite shops in America were Nordstrom and Lord and Taylor. Those were the days when the English pound bought a lot of things in department stores and shopping in New York was cheap.
You must be talking about the 1970's. In the 80's Lord and Taylor became one of the most expensive department stores in New York.
Posts: 1626 | From: whatever, wherever | Registered: Jul 2008
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No not that long ago I am talking late 90s! That was a time when it was really cheap to shop in New York.
A friend in my village in Suffolk was invited to the store for some celebration they had there because they had traced him as an ancestor of one of the stores founders! So, he had a really wonderful time in NY, previous to this he had never heard of Lord and Taylor.
But I remember the wonderful Christmas decorations and a guy playing a white grand piano in the entrance.
I love America even if some people want to attack the States endlessly on the Politican section!
Posts: 588 | From: an oasis near the pyramids | Registered: Oct 2005
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I moved out of NYC in 1993. I used to shop at Macy's but not the one in the city. I consider NYC prices very high compared to malls and outlet stores upstate. I do miss NY very much as was so disappointed that we did not get to spend the day there last week (because of flight delays in Atlanta).
Posts: 1626 | From: whatever, wherever | Registered: Jul 2008
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When I said 'ancestor', I should have said descendant!
I think going to the posh shops is part of the tourist trip, like people love to see Harrods in London.
By the way, there are lots of green and gold little shops in Hurghada called Harrods. I think Al Fayed would go crazy if he saw them
Posts: 588 | From: an oasis near the pyramids | Registered: Oct 2005
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