The Dordoy Bazaar in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan is the largest market in Central Asia. At 1 km2 and 40,000 traders, it's a city within a city with its own streets, avenues, and back alleys. And after hours it turns into a blue ghost town. Everything looks the same, and there are no street signs. It takes me 3 hours to find my way out, and only with the help of a Maps app on my phone.
Info about the Dordoy Bazaar varies wildly depending on the source, but in general the bazaar:
- is comparable to Bangkok's Chatuchak market and Tehran's Grand Bazaar
- consists of approx. 30,000 shipping containers. A container costs up to $30,000 (like a flat in Bishkek.
- opens at 6am and closes between 3 and 6pm
- closes for only day a year - on 1 Jan
- including all contractors, provides 600,000 jobs
- has an annual turnover of $4-8bn. But traders pay total annual rent of $500mn.
- pays $83mn per year in taxes.
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