Looking to buy curtains or material in Cairo?

Post by **Ebikatsu** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 3:39 pm

Just a few mins walk from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the area called 'Wikalet al Balaq' or 'Souk al Balaq, (market of dates when it used to be the main place to buy dates in Cairo, but still retained the name)

It's a whole district full of every conceivable type of material for clothing, curtains, or upholstery.

Some great bargains if you are up to haggling and miles cheaper than the stores.
Opens on Fridays as it's mainly Christian shop owners who close on Sundays.

Post by **Lostintranslation** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 3:57 pm

yay needed that

Post by **Ebikatsu** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 4:03 pm

Groovy

glad it was of help

Hello and

Post by **Goddess** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 8:50 am

I love the material souk in Alex!
I'm a bit cheeky though - I go to the street in Downtown Alex first that has all the expensive stuff and it's more pleasant to look around, suss out what I want, and then drag my SIL down to the material market armed with a description of what I'm looking for and get it for half the price or less than the expensive shop wanted without the hassle of going stall to stall in a not so pleasant area.

Post by **Horus** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 3:10 pm

Goddess wrote:I love the material souk in Alex!
I'm a bit cheeky though - I go to the street in Downtown Alex first that has all the expensive stuff and it's more pleasant to look around, suss out what I want, and then drag my SIL down to the material market armed with a description of what I'm looking for and get it for half the price or less than the expensive shop wanted without the hassle of going stall to stall in a not so pleasant area.

See! you are doing it again

next you will be complaining that the downtown Alex shop has closed down.

Post by **Goddess** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 3:21 pm

Horus wrote:
Goddess wrote:I love the material souk in Alex!
I'm a bit cheeky though - I go to the street in Downtown Alex first that has all the expensive stuff and it's more pleasant to look around, suss out what I want, and then drag my SIL down to the material market armed with a description of what I'm looking for and get it for half the price or less than the expensive shop wanted without the hassle of going stall to stall in a not so pleasant area.
See! you are doing it again next you will be complaining that the downtown Alex shop has closed down.

Cripey! I hadn't even realised!! I'm a serial undercutter!

Post by **Melissa87** » Thu Jan 07, 2010 12:42 pm

Thanks for that info! Does anyone know if there are any haberdashery shops in that area as well?

Post by **cbrbddd** » Thu Jan 07, 2010 4:57 pm

Ebi, thanks for reminding me about this place. I want to take a stroll through here someday . . . I heard it was great for looking at sparkly fabrics too . . . or at least I think this is the place that my costume ppl go for buying fabric.