Traders of Tehran Bazaar: 'Nobody's Buying!'

Business is sluggish in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, according to traders who’ve been there for years and spoke to an IranWire citizen journalist this week. With Yalda night just three weeks away, business owners say most visitors are just coming to browse and have a snack, but very few are actually buying anything of substance. "I’ve worked in a silver shop here for years,” one said. “Now price rises are so rampant people are just here for fun and – depending on the cost – a chelo kebab or a sandwich, then they leave. Until three or four years ago large numbers of people came to the bazaar to buy nuts, snacks and nibbles, but this year it’s sluggish. Everything has got too expensive."