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.

Kawran Bazaar

Kawran Bazaar is the biggest and most famous wholesale general market in Dhaka City. All kinds of vegetables, fish, rice and other commodities are supplied to the small markets from here. At the end of eighteenth century Kawran Singh, a Marwari merchant, first established the bazaar in the in Nineteenth Century. It was later was extended and developed into 1255 stores, of which 55 are owned by Dhaka City Corporation.

There is no holiday in the market, which operates a 24 hours a day but the early morning is the peak hour for the wholesale and fish markets. Starting at 12 A.M, all night the vegetables and goods come from around the country. Many trucks and pick-ups carry and bring commodities here from different places. The gathering of clients becomes concentrated in the early morning, around 4-7 O’clock, when the small markets open. As many clients watch movies during the nights, the restaurants of Kawran Bazaar are opens 24 hours, and sell delicious Bangla dishes. Comparatively the price of food in these restaurants is high. A residential hotel, tea-stalls, pan and cigarettes shops can be found at the bazaar.

Many prominent newspapers, TV stations, media centers, government agencies and multinational companies’ head offices are situated in the Kawran Bazaar area. The five star hotel Pan Pacific Sonargaon is situated just nearby the bazaar.

Nilkhat Book Market

The name Nilkhat comes from the “Nil” cultivation of English colonial period. Here may once was cultivated Nil and named of the place Nilkhat ( Nil + Field ).

However in the modern Dhaka Nilkhat is famous as booking and printing market. It is the second largest book market of Dhaka City. It is located nearby Dhaka University. Hence the main clients are the students of Dhaka University. This market was established in 1979 and now managed by land ministry of government since 1980.

Along with local and international books and publication it is famous for low priced printing, photocopy, stationary and educational materials. There are 2500 book stalls and lot of temporary hocker stalls in this market. Everyday about 15-20 thousand students come here to fulfill their need.

This market is divided into two parts book section and print section. Pint section’s weekly holiday on Friday and book section’s holiday on Tuesday. Huge quantity of books and publications has been distributed around the country from here. This is the target market of students from low and middle class family.

Chak Bazaar

Chak bazaar is one of a famous market of old Dhaka. As a whole sales market people knows it’s by name. It was established on 1947 under the private ownership. All owners of shops make Bazer shomitee in together. Total Chak bazer is controlled by this Chak Bazaar Vonick Shomitee. ( Chak Bazaar Businessmen’s organization )

It is public work, in early stage Chak and Chak Product ( lime and lime products ) was main product of the market. But at present this market is famous for various whole seller products. Cosmetics, stationary, imitation, jewelry, women fashion products, decoration products and wedding items, garments products, etc are widely sold both in retail and whole sell price. Besides this cloth shop, lungi (man dress ), stationary and electronics shops are available here. Retail sellers all over the country bought goods from here.

A famous architecture of Mughol period, named Shahi mosjid is situated here. Chak Bazer is also famous for Alauddin Sweetmeats and Bombay sweet of old Dhaka.