How Bazaar

In the morning, I set out with Jack, Jon, Amanda, Athena and Kara.  Jack and Jon were planning on getting Turkish baths, and as the bath house was right next to an entrance to the grand bazaar, the rest of us were going to go do some shopping, and meet up with them later.  After setting a meeting time outside the bath house, we set off to the bazaar.  It was not at all what I expected.  I envisioned more temporary style tents, kind of like Saturday Market, but that is not what I found at all.  The entire bazaar is located in a very large, labyrinth of a building, with overflow shops filling the streets immediately outside of the gates.  We entered through gate one, where we were greeted with a high, arching ceiling, and shops lining both sides of the wide walkway.  Soon, the branches in the pathway began, and we made our way further into the depths.  Pretty much everything is for sale, from ceramic plates and bowls to pashminas to trinkets of all sorts, sunglasses, jerseys, rugs, hookahs, lanterns… if you can think of it, you could find it here.  I quickly learned that prices were highly negotiable.  As we walked through the different allies, we were enticed to come look at each and every shop owners goods, and promised the lowest prices.  When one of the other girls stopped at an ATM, I went to look at some of the pashminas.  Curious about the pricing, I asked how much one of the ones I liked was.  The response I got was 25 lira!  Way more than I would willingly pay!  I said “too much” and started turning to walk back to my friends and they quickly lowered the price to 20 lira, I shook my head and it fell again to 15 lira.  When I said “5 lira”, they laughed and countered with 10 lira.  That is as low as they were willing to go, and I decided to feel out the prices a little more before making any purchases.  It was good to know that in a matter of about thirty seconds, a price could be cut by almost two thirds.
Much of our day continued in the same manner, seeing something we liked, asking the price, working it down to a lower one, and then either accepting or walking away.  The biggest key is the ability to say no, because sometimes that brings the price down that extra little bit that makes it worth while.  We made our way back to meet the boys, and then it was their turn to experience the bazaar.  It was really fun to bargain for prices, and the salespeople were all so friendly.  Some of them would even remember you if you walked by their shop more than once.  The salesmen are all very convincing actors, they know how to sell, and how to make you feel like you are getting a good deal.  They convince you that the price they are giving is just for you, not for anyone else, and only because you are so pretty or charming.  By the end of our time in the bazaar, all of us had much emptier pockets and much fuller arms.  It had been a successful day.