Shopping in Iran<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Once inside a shop<\/a>, don\u2019t wait for the clerk, who could well be the owner, to ask what you would like. The usual practice is to ask for what you want yourself, or in a small grocery shop where there are no shopping baskets, to pick your items and then put them on the counter while you look around for some more items.<\/p>\n\n\n Customers who walk into the shop after you may be served before you, possibly because they are faster to ask for what they want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Complaining that you were there before them will probably work, but Iranians will consider this strange, because in shops the understanding is \u201cask and you will be given.\u201d Lines are formed in banks, government offices, and traditional bakeries because it is clear that a customer wants something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is not the case in shops, where customers may not find what they are looking for, or may be trying to decide what to buy, so customers don\u2019t line up.<\/p>\n\n\n Iranians are seasoned negotiators, having developed their skills since childhood, and, apart from the financial gain, often enjoy the bargaining experience for the sake of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Iran, almost everything apart from retail groceries and restaurant and hotel bills is negotiable.<\/p>\n\n\n Bargaining for an item or a service is a task that takes some getting used to. In the West, large shopping chains carry out their own kind of bargaining: chain stores undercut competitors with offers like \u201cbuy one and get one free,\u201d or promising to refund the difference if you find the same item cheaper elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because this bargaining takes place at a corporate level, Western visitors are generally not used to bartering in the context of everyday shopping in the same way that Iranians are.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n Shopkeepers believe that the first sale of the day (dasht-e avval) carries a special blessing. If it is an expensive purchase such as clothes, shoes, or electrical goods, shoppers will have an advantage when it comes to bargaining, as we will see later in this chapter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, you need to convince the seller that you are a serious buyer and aren\u2019t just browsing. Ask the price and express surprise or disappointment in words or by facial expression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The seller will respond with something like, \u201cThis is the market price,\u201d or \u201cYou won\u2019t find it cheaper elsewhere.\u201d You can say that the shop in the next street sells it cheaper, and quote a much lower price than the one you are prepared to pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He will lower his asking price a bit. If you aren\u2019t prepared to pay it, or you enjoy the game for its own sake, raise your own price but don\u2019t match his yet. Depending on the seller\u2019s and your resilience, this back-and-forth may go on for some time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When he reaches his absolute lowest price, he will often signify it by saying, \u201cXXX thousand tumans, last offer.\u201d You can then agree or still not make a purchase.<\/p>\n\n\n Once you have agreed on a price, your Iranian interlocutor will say q\u00e2beli n\u00e2dare\u2014\u201cIt is not worthy of you\u201d (i.e., \u201cYou can have it for free\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shopkeepers and taxi drivers also say the same when you ask how much you should pay them. This offer is, of course, not to be taken at face value even if repeated, as it only indicates the speaker\u2019s goodwill and pure intention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The idea expressed by this offer is that in an ideal world you would be his guest, but this is not an ideal world, and everyone has to get paid. The response to this offer is kh\u00e2hesh mikonam (please), which acknowledges the intention, followed by your payment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every provincial capital has its own central bazaar that provides shops in their province with locally produced goods and food. Imported or manufactured goods are usually sold wholesale from the Tehran Grand Bazaar<\/a> (B\u00e2z\u00e2r-e Bororg-e Tehr\u00e2n), which is the commercial heart of Tehran and of the whole of Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some provincial bazaars are centuries old, but the Tehran Grand Bazaar developed from clusters of specialty small craft markets about 150 years ago near the then seat of Qajar royalty, the Golest\u00e2n Palace<\/a> (which is just up the road and well worth a visit).<\/p>\n\n\n The bazaar is a maze of narrow alleys in which small shops and stalls sell goods and commodities. Some alleys take their name from the goods sold there, for example, B\u00e2z\u00e2r-e Mesgar-h\u00e2 (coppersmiths\u2019 market) or from a famous person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The visual effects of the bazaar range from the dazzling, as in the goldsmiths\u2019 market, to the uniformly muted, as in Kilo-ee-ha Alley, where shops stock only black chador fabric, and everything in between: shoes, clothes, household goods, stationery, and anything else you can imagine.<\/p>\n\n\n Some stalls sell on a retail basis, but many others are only shop windows\u2014they showcase the merchandise available in the large storerooms that wholesalers maintain elsewhere and only sell to these potential wholesale buyers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to the wholesale and retail shops, the bazaar contains banking and credit facilities<\/a>, where prices for gold, commodities, staple goods, and foreign exchange<\/a> rates are determined and influence nationwide prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thus, the Tehran Grand Bazaar is the financial heart of the whole country, much like Wall Street or the City of London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The b\u00e2z\u00e2ri class includes those employed in wholesale trade and financial institutions, workshop owners, distributors, and middlemen, and they represent the solid, conservative social strata.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Traditionally, the b\u00e2z\u00e2ri families have enjoyed familial ties with the clerical class (ulem\u00e2) and, exercising their financial muscle in conjunction with the ulema\u2019s spiritual influence, have often brought pressure to bear on the Iranian monarchy\u2019s autocratic tendencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Grocers and greengrocers are open every day and keep very long hours, opening early in the morning and not closing until late at night. Other shops open about 9:30 A.M. and their shopping hours vary according to location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Neighborhood shops that are likely to be owned and run by a local resident usually close after the noon call to prayer for lunch and a siesta, and then reopen from about 4:30\u20138:00 in the winter and about 5:00\u20139:30 in the summer.<\/p>\n\n\n![\"Bazaar](\"https:\/\/surfiran.com\/mag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Bazaar-in-Tehran.jpg\" "\\"Bazaar")
![\"Vendor](\"https:\/\/surfiran.com\/mag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Vendor-and-customers-at-the-Thursday-market-or-Panjshambe-Bazar-Minab.jpg\" "\\"Vendor")
![\"Isfahan,](\"https:\/\/surfiran.com\/mag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Isfahan-Traditional-Grand-Bazaar.jpg\" "\\"Isfahan,")
\n
![\"Iran,](\"https:\/\/surfiran.com\/mag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Iran-Shemiranat-County-Tehran-man-selling-rings-in-tajrish-bazaar.jpg\" "\\"Iran,")
How to Bargain Successfully in Iran<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Iranians](\"https:\/\/surfiran.com\/mag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Iranian-new-year.jpg\" "\\"Iranians")
The Iran B\u00c2Z\u00c2Ri Class<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Bandari](\"https:\/\/surfiran.com\/mag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/The-Thursday-market-or-Panjshambe-Bazar-Minab.jpg\" "\\"Bandari")
![\"Isfahan](\"https:\/\/surfiran.com\/mag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Isfahan-Traditional-Grand-Bazaar-2.jpg\" "\\"Isfahan")
Iran Shopping Hours<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Smoking](\"https:\/\/surfiran.com\/mag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/An-old-man-smoking-narguile-in-the-bazaar-of-Isfahan-Iran-Middle-East.jpg\" "\\"Smoking")