Shankar Plaza

Nijam’s Shankar Plaza is situated opposite side of 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 kemeezes, 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 vegetables shops, meat shops, a bank booth, tea stalls, capture the spirit of Shankar. These illegal and unofficial shops makes 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.

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.

Metro Shopping Mall

Globalization and modernization, have had an impact on Dhaka city architecture. This can be seen in the design of markets and the market motif, manifested in consumerism as a life style and a culture. Within the past few years many shopping malls have been established and global brand products have become widely available, which in turn has an impact on the quality of local products. The modern markets and the products they sell are the most obvious examples of the influence of the West on contemporary urban Bangladesh.

The Metro Shopping Mall of Dhanmondi is a popular shopping mall for fashion products. The main clients of the market the rich young generations as all shop sale high price products and emphasize the quality of their goods. Metro plays an important role in changing the fashion, life view and style of Dhaka.

This luxurious shopping mall was established in 2002 on Mirpur Road, Dhanmondi, just behind the Bangamandu Memorial Museum. Metro is a six-storied shopping center where each floor has forty-one shops. It is famous for ready made garments, jewelry, shoes, cosmetics and fashion items for ladies and gents. The top two floors are occupied with electronic shops selling, CDs, VCDs, mobile phones and mobile accessories.

Hazaribag Bazaar

Hazaribag in old Dhaka is famous for the tannery industry, although the tannery industry is facing a struggle to survive nowadays but until recently it was a good business for foreign currency earnings. The Leather Technology College of Bangladesh is situated here.

There are 360 tanneries, of varying size, located at Hazaribag. The size of the industry means that there is a big problem with wastage and pollution from chemicals; consequently the government has taken a decision to shift the industry outside of Dhaka by 2010.

Along with tannery and leather related businesses, there is a general market at Hazaribag that was started before independence. As a locally managed initiative the market received its registration in 1994. Today there are almost 400 different types of shops at Hazaribag. In the general market we find vegetables, fish, meat, rice, grocery items, stationery items and everyday commodities for sale. There is also, a readymade garments and tailoring area plus fruit shops, restaurants, tea-stalls and so found in the Bazaar. This bazaar starts at 7:00 AM and closes at 11:00 PM everyday. There is no holiday for this bazaar.

The head offices of all leather companies of Bangladesh are located in this bazaar and are thus quite a rich area. However, it’s a living place for workers and officials of the leading factories, which means there are a number of slums and slum-like residential areas in Hazaribag Baribath.

Panthapath Furniture Market

Apartment, schools, colleges, offices and institutions in Dhaka are increasing to meet the needs of the rapidly the population of Dhaka City. To fulfill the need for house and interior decoration many furniture markets have been built in different parts of Dhaka city. Pantha Path Furniture Market is Dhaka’s biggest and most important furniture market.

The market is located just opposite Bashundhara City, which is Dhaka’s first mega shopping mall and spreads over a considerable distance of the Panthapath on the north side of the road. In this famous furniture market all kinds of wood, bamboo, cane, iron, plastic and steel furniture is available. Along with furniture made from foreign ships’ wood furniture (usually salvaged in Chittagong), well known Bangladesh branded ready made furniture is sold in this market.

Cots, elmiras, showcases, chairs, tables, sofas, almas and other local forms of local furniture are commonly produced in the shops of Pantha Path furniture market. School, college and office furniture is also supplied from this market according to order. Wednesday is the holyday of this market. 9 am to 8 pm are the official hours of the market.

Rajdhani Super Market

Rajdhani Super Market is the best-known market for women fashion products of the Dhaka City. Mostly middle and lower middle class woman frequent it as all type products; household commodities and cooking utensils are available in the market.

Covering a huge area at Tikatoli the market was established by the Muktijudha Kolan Trust (Freedom Fighter Welfare Trust) under the Ministry of Muktijuddo (Freedom Fighters Welfare). Within this huge market there is a wide range of products available at reasonable prices, which attracts a large clientele.

There are 1200 shops were saris, fashion garments, shoes, clothe, dress design material, cosmetics and cooking utensils are available. Initially Indian-made products dominated this market but now it is the Chinese product that dominates along with locally made goods.

Based on the market tea stall idea, Bangla fast food restaurants have been established in the market area, As it is now Ramadan, they are hidden by cloth, but inside of the stall the people, particularly the younger generation who don’t fast, take food. Opening time for the market is 9.00 morning and it closes at 10.00 at night. Friday is the weekly holiday of Rajdhani Market.

Town Hall Market

Mohammadpur and Lalmatia are closed to the developed area of Dhanmondi but they have some way to go before they rival this major suburb. The area is still largely underdeveloped although most of the local people are middle or lower middle class. Nowadays some high-rise and modern apartment buildings can be found in the areas but the number is limited. The main market in the suburb is the Town Hall Market, which is big and retails all kinds of needed daily products. Despite its size and popularity the market has not been modernized. There are three mosques in the bazaar area, which indicates the piousness of the local inhabitants.

This bazaar started after independence and has been administered and extended by the city corporation. There is a large two-storied building but the vegetable and fruit markets still sit in an open-air environment.

Mohammadpur Krishi Market

The Krishi Market is situated in the under developed suburb of Mohammadpur in Dhaka City. The Krishi Market is famous for rice wholesaling. Once the area was considered as a crime zone but now through a government initiative the situation has changed. Rice is supplied to neighboring market and shops from Krishi Market.

The sanitation and environment has also improved after the establishment the Japan Garden City development.

This market was established in 1981 by government, and is controlled by Dhaka City Corporation. There are 150 shops in the market. There is also a newly built market called Notun Krishi Bazaar, nearby where garments, groceries, stationery, vegetables and fish are sold at reasonable prices.

There are almost 500 shops in the Notun Krishi Market. Along with a general fashion corner there are separate fish, meat and poultry corners. In the fashion corner clothes, cosmetics, toys, gifts, crockery, clocks, electronics, jewelry, plastic items and household products are sold. In front of market there are also many Bangla food restaurants, pharmacies, tea-stalls, cigarette shops and fruit shops as well as a mobile kebab shop.

Mohammadpur Krishi Market and the new general market are comparatively big government markets. Friday is a half-day and Saturday is a full holiday for Krishi Market but the new general market remains open at all times.