Chittagong: pop-up shop

February 2025

In Bangladesh, there is only one place to buy handicrafts and locally made good easily, Aarong.  Everyone middle-class and upward (and foreigners) shops there, and the store has branches in most major cities.  The atmosphere inside is relaxing and the quality of the goods, high.  The only problem for me was that the prices are several times higher than the "real" price of the goods.

As I traveled around the city alone or with friends, I always seemed to be inside a vehicle when it sped by a display of handicrafts being sold from a cart or along the street.  I almost never passed such places walking (and I walked a lot), apparently always a victim of bad timing. Finally, I decided that when I stumbled across one, I would just stop the transport and get off even if I was not near the destination.   Usually friends were with me to translate.  If they weren't, I used my phone.

The cost of things was so cheap as to be unbelievable.  My friends insisted I bargain but the first prices were so low, I didn't need to.   And, the sellers were clearly very poor.   What pleasure could I derive from getting an even lower price on something when the vendor needed the money more than me? With one very bedraggled old guy from whom I bought several baskets I often paid over the asking price.

Slowly, I decorated my apartment in Chittagong with a combination of things from Aarong and "finds" from the street.  Brian and I had done similar in Indonesia - the shopping was good fun.  What was different from Indonesia was that such vendors were very regular there and it was easy to relocate one - even the humblest streetside shop.  In Bangladesh, such sellers moved around (often nudged on by police who would occasionally crack down on them - officially they were illegal).   I had to developed a strategy of "buy it now".

That led to many hilarious situations where I arrived to meetings late or brought with me my latest finds (the vendors rarely had bags).  Bangladeshi colleagues laughed at me a lot.  Expat colleagues thought I took unnecessary risks venturing out into "the city". I enjoyed it, actually. Shopping for street handicrafts is one of my fondest memories of life in Chittagong.

The pop up shops of Bangladesh were one of the few good things about living there.   I think it was the "challenge" they presented.   Maybe shopping is more fun when there is some difficulty involved?