Where is Bangabazar? One would often be asked this question by foreigners. The fame of this market selling trendy yet low-priced garments has spread not only beyond the confines of this market at Fulbaria but also Dhaka and other cities across the world, as there most favourite question attests. Foreigners as well as people from all over the country flock here to buy garments for personal use and presenting those to others. Many retail traders also come here to make wholesale purchases.

Bangabazar, started in 1965 as a trading spot where vendors and hawkers brought headload of goods everyday. The location was close to the main railway station of the time and was an ideal place for sale of snacks, drinks, items of day-to-day use, and souvenirs. Even after the shifting of the railway station to Kamlapur, the hawkers continued to transact their business at the place as it formed a junction of several busy roads. They constructed temporary tin sheds with an intention to permanently occupy the place.

In 1975, the Dhaka municipal administration decided to construct a market building inthe area and demolished the tin sheds. But the land belonged to the railway authorities, which refused to transfer its ownership. The shop owners then took pieces of land from the railway department under agreements on yearly lease and started running businesses on a legal footing. In 1985, the area was formally transferred to the City Corporation, which finally constructed a shopping centre in 1989.

The market is spread on about 21,250 square feet of space. It was developed as a garments market between 1985 and 1990, incorporating four shopping centres - Bangabazar, Gulistan, Mahanagari and Adarsha Hawkers Market. The market is renowned for sale of readymade garments, shirts, trousers, shorts, jackets, hosiery, sweater, ladies wears, footwear and saris at cheap prices in both wholesale and retail trade.

Bangabazar is not for novice shoppers. An expert eye can often detect good items as some of those might be from the lot that the garment exporter failed to comply with the timeframe.

The main feature of the market is the bargain price at all the shops. Any time is sold here at a price as loe as 30 to 40% of the asking price. So be careful, while fixing price of the items with salesman. The products can be sold cheap because the raw materials used are surplus fabrics and accessories of manufacturers, who import them for the merchandise of supplies by foreign buyers or their local agents.

Consisting of about 3,000 shops in the congested place, the centre is the largest shopping mall for local consumers and traders as well as for buyers from India, Nepal, Bhutan, Russia, and Iran. Expatriates, including tourists and those who work in embassies or multinational companies, visit the market so frequently that it is increasingly attracting international attention.

The transaction with foreigners is carried out through some local inexpert bilinguists, who have developed skill in interpreting the bargaining between the buyers and sellers.