Shopping in Turkey
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Jennifer’s Hamam
Owned by Canadian Jennifer Gaudet, this recently opened shop stocks hamam items including towels, robes and peştemals (bath wraps) produced on old hand looms or hand/motor looms. It also sells natural soaps, kese (coarse cloth mittens used for depilation) and rosense products (natural rose hand and body products from Isparta).
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Sali Pazari
On Tuesday there is a massive market in Kadıköy, on the Asian side: the Sali Pazari. The cheapest clothes in town are on sale here, so if you've been on the road for a while and your underwear needs replenishing, this is the place to do it! To get there, get off the ferry and move straight ahead along the major boulevard of Söğütlüçeşme Caddesi for about 500m until you come to a busy intersection, Altıyol Square.
Cross over, take the right fork and continue eastward along Kuşdili Caddesi for another 250m (three cross streets). At Hasırcıbaşı Caddesi turn left and you'll see the tent-city market spread out before you. It's open between 08:00 and 18:00. On Sunday t…
reviewed
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Muhlis Günbatti
One of the most famous stores in the bazaar, Muhlis Günbattı specialises in suzani fabrics from Uzbekistan. These beautiful bedspreads, tablecloths and wall hangings are made from fine cotton embroidered with silk. As well as the textiles, it stocks top-quality carpets, brightly coloured kilims and a small range of antique Ottoman fabrics richly embroidered with gold. Its second shop at Tevkifhane Sokak in Sultanahmet sells a wider range of costumes at truly stratospheric prices.
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Mavi Jeans
The dress code of choice for İstanbul's youth is a pair of worn jeans (usually tight and low-slung) and a fair percentage of these would have been purchased from local company Mavi. Among the most popular ranges are those designed by internationally recognised fashion designer, Rıfat Özbek. Prices are at least half of those of foreign imports. There are other branches at İstiklal Caddesi 195 and 425.
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Yilmaz Ipekçilik
Hand-loomed textiles made in a family-run factory in Antakya are on sale in this out-of-the-way shop. Good-quality silk, cotton and linen items at reasonable prices make it worth the short trek.
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Ikonium
Konya was traditionally a felt-making centre but the art is fast dying out in Turkey. Passionate keçeki (felt- maker) Mehmet and his Argentinean wife Silvia offer treats including op-art-style patterns and what might be the world's largest hand-decorated piece of felt.
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Spice Bazaar
Need a herbal love potion or natural Turkish Viagra? This is the place to find them, although we won’t vouch for the efficacy of either! As well as baharat (spices) , nuts, honey in the comb and olive-oil soaps, the bustling spice bazaar sells truckloads of incir (figs) , lokum (Turkish delight) and pestil (fruit pressed into sheets and dried). The number of shops selling tourist trinkets increases annually, yet this remains a great place to stock up on edible souvenirs, share a few jokes with the vendors and marvel at the well-preserved building. It’s also home to one of the city’s oldest restaurants, Pandeli, and an attractive competitor, Bab-i Hayat. The market w…
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Urfa's Bazaar
After visiting the Şanlıurfa Museum, ponder your new-found knowledge with a wander through Urfa's bazaar. Spreading itself east of the Narıncı Camii, it is a jumble of streets, some covered, some open, selling everything from sheepskins and pigeons to jeans and handmade shoes. It was largely built by Süleyman the Magnificent in the mid-16th century. The best idea is just to dive in and inevitably get lost. Women should be on guard for lustful hands.
One of the most interesting areas is the bedesten (kazaz pazarı), an ancient caravanserai where silk goods were sold. Today you'll still find silk scarves sold here, as well as gaudy modern carpets and the lovely blue an…
reviewed
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Ali Muhiddin Haci Bekir
It’s obligatory to sample lokum while in İstanbul, and one of the best places to do so is at this historic shop, which has been operated by members of the same family for over 200 years. As well as enjoying sade (plain) lokum, you can buy it made with cevizli (walnut) or şam fıstıklı (pistachio), or flavoured with portakal (orange), badem (almond) or roze (rose-water). Try a çeşitli (assortment) to sample the various types. There are also branches in Beyoğlu and Kadıköy.
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Yemeniciler Arastası
Safranbolu is a great place to pick up all sorts of handicrafts - especially textiles, metalwork, shoes and wooden artefacts - whether locally made or shipped in from elsewhere to supply browsing coach tourists. The restored Yemeniciler Arastası , the Peasant Shoe-Makers' Bazaar, is the best place to start looking, although the makers of the light, flat-heeled shoes who used to work here have long since moved out.
The further you go from the arasta the more likely you are to come across shops occupied by authentic working saddle-makers, felt-makers and other artisans.
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Kapalı Çarşı
Behind the Ulu Cami, Bursa's sprawling Kapalı Çarşı is a great place to while away a few hours, especially if you find İstanbul's Grand Bazaar too touristy. At the centre of the Kapalı Çarşı, the bedesten (vaulted, fireproof enclosure for valuable goods) was built in the late 14th century by Yıldırım Beyazıt, although it was reconstructed after an earthquake in 1855. The market is renowned for its high-quality towels and bathrobes, should you have space in your luggage for such bulky items.
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Konya's Bazaar
Konya's bazaar sprawls virtually all the way to the Mevlâna Museum, cramming the narrow streets with stalls, roving vendors and the occasional horse-drawn cart. The streets are divided up in very medieval fashion: here a section for coils of rope, there one for gold jewellery, nearby one for mobile-phone accessories. There's a concentration of shops selling religious paraphernalia and tacky souvenirs at the Mevlâna Museum end.
It is the most exciting place to shop for fresh fruit, vegetables, cheese etc.
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Mehmet Çetinkaya Gallery
Described by an editor at Halı Publications as ‘Turkey’s leading dealer of antique textile art’, Mehmet Çetinkaya is also known as one of the country’s foremost experts on antique oriental carpets. His flagship store is full of treasures, but remember – quality never comes cheaply. There’s a second shop selling textiles and objects in the Arasta Bazaar and a third in the Four Seasons Istanbul at the Bosphorus.
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İznik Foundation
Recently, İznik tile-making has been undergoing a revival, and that the town is proud of this fact is evident from the posters of tiles on display in many restaurants and hotels. Original İznik tiles are antiquities and cannot be exported from Turkey, but new tiles make great, if not particularly cheap, souvenirs. Good places to start looking are the small workshops along Salim Demircan Sokak, and the workshop belonging to the İznik Foundation.
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Haremlique
The shops around the fashionable W Istanbul are among the most glamorous in the city. Marni, Chloé, Marc Jacobs and Jimmy Choo are just a few of the labels that draw the city’s moneyed elite here to shop. Among these international labels is this local business, which sells top-drawer bed linen and bathwares. Come here to source items such as boudoir cushion-covers featuring Ottoman rococo prints – they’re certain to wow your guests back home.
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Cocoon
There are so many rug and textile shops in İstanbul that choosing individual shops to recommend is incredibly difficult. We had no problem whatsoever in singling this one out, though. Felt hats, antique costumes and textiles from central Asia are artfully displayed in one store, while rugs from Persia, central Asia, the Caucasus and Anatolia adorn the other. There’s a third shop in the Arasta Bazaar and another in the Grand Bazaar.
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Midnight Express
Local designer Banu Bora chose the ultra-chic Mısır Apartment Building on İstiklal Caddesi as the Beyoğlu location for her business, reinforcing its status as the city’s most sophisticated fashion boutique. It stocks Bora’s own labels (there are two) plus clothes and accessories from local and international designers. If the door is closed, ring the bell. There’s another store in Bebek that sells both fashion and homewares.
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Istanbul Handicrafts Market
Set in the small rooms surrounding the leafy courtyard of the 18th-century Cedid Mehmed Efendi Medresesi, this handicrafts centre next door to the Yeşil Ev hotel is unusual in that local artisans sometimes work here and don’t mind if visitors watch. Their creations are available for purchase; it’s a great place to source beautiful calligraphy, glassware, hand embroidery, miniature paintings, ceramics and fabric dolls.
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Bazaar
İzmir's Bazaar is a little slice of fast-vanishing Turkey; this is also the place to head for İzmir's heart and soul. It's a great place to get lost for a few hours amid the stalls, sound of caged songbirds, wedding dress shops and spice stalls. Seek out if you can the flower and bead markets, then stop for a reviving shot of Turkish coffee in one of the delightful cafés at its core.
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Ark Lıne
One of the motifs of contemporary Turkish fashion is the inspiration local designers take from their Ottoman heritage. Ark Line has followed Gönül Paksoy in referencing the sartorial style of the sultans and their entourages in its collections. The clothes here are nowhere near as assured and desirable as Paksoy’s, but they are considerably cheaper, meaning that they sit within most budgets.
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Leyla Seyhanli
If you love old clothes, you’ll adore Leyla Seyhanlı’s boutique. Filled to the brim with piles of Ottoman embroidery and outfits, it’s a rummager’s delight. It stocks everything from 1890s cashmere and velvet coats to 1950s taffeta party frocks to silk-embroidery cushion covers that would’ve been at home in the Dolmabahçe Palace linen cupboard.
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Necdet Daniş
Fashion designers and buyers from every corner of the globe know that when in İstanbul, this is where to come to source top-quality textiles. It’s crammed with bolts of fabric of every description – shiny, simple, sheer and sophisticated – as well as peştemals, scarves and clothes. Next-door Murat Danış is part of the same operation.
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Istinye Park
Perhaps the best of the city’s malls is İstinye Park, located in the upper Bosphorus suburb of İstinye. You’ll find classy department stores Beymen and Vakko here, a slew of prestige international designers, and high-street chains including Banana Republic, Marks & Spencer, Mavi and Zara. Eateries include branches of Mezzaluna and The House Café.
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Abdulla Natural Products
The first of the Western-style designer stores that are now appearing in this ancient marketplace, Abdulla sells cotton bed linen, handspun woollen throws from Eastern Turkey, cotton peştemals and pure olive-oil soap. It’s all top-quality, but it’s not cheap. There’s another store in the Fes Café in Cağaloğlu.
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Kanyon
The ritzy Kanyon is home to multinational names such as Harvey Nichols, Wagamama, Georg Jensen, Le Pain Quotidien, Birkenstock, Mango and Mandarina Duck. It also has a few locally based stores, including Vakko, Ottoman Empire (funky T-shirts screen-printed with Ottoman-influenced motifs) and Remzi Kitabevi (an excellent chain bookstore with a big English-language selection).
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