Thread: Your Dream bellydance shopping tour in Istanbul? Suggestion please!

Hello ladies,

A friend of mine organizes A Real Romani Experience in Turkey tour with Ozgen and Reyhan Tuzsuz, and she asks me if I can help her to come up with whole afternoon bellydance shopping time plan.
I am an expat bellydance hobbiest here in Istanbul, so I am supposed to come up with a good plan, but I am too used to shop here so I have never thought of how I can effectively use time for shopping.

If you have 4-5 hours for shopping in Istanbul, what kind of shops do you want to go?

Do you want to go to all major boutiques here, or, would you rather check those small shops in Grand Bazar?

I am even thinking of taking them to wholesale places where tourists can't find nor can't talk to shop keepers as they only speak Turkish. Does this sound attractive to you???

Or, what do you regret that you didn't buy in Istanbul?

I would really appreciate your suggestion, pleeeez!

You could plan on different "building blocks" (fabric, music, spices, costumes houses) and then piece them together depending on what the attendants are interested in.

I am probably not representative, my preference would be textiles and fabrics (the striped kutnu cloth!!!) and unusual evil eye things. I'd also want to go shopping for music, books, DVDs and antique goodies - prints, textiles, perhaps some jewelry. But, given that the alternative is costumes, mine is almost certainly a minoriaty opinion :-)

If I were going to Instanbul, first stop would be Sim Modi Eva, then Bella.

Wholesale and small shops. We can get the big names from our computers.

Mmmm..... maybe two options?

One group goes to big names, as there is no perfect-fiiting-to-your-body service on line

The other goup can go to wholesale places where they sell swaro crystals by kg, and the small shops where people can buy mix n' match Romani costumes from head to toe.

The question will be if a girl can decide which one to go !

I'll be travelling to Istanbul soon, and I'm already making a shopping list in my head, so here are my two cents:

- it depends very much on the the size of your group. If you went to a costuming atelier, then barging in with 15 people will be terribly uncomfortable. However, letting them all loose on a Grand Bazaar is a completely different story.

- when I first went to the Grand Bazaar, I got terribly confused. i would have appreciated having at least a little guidance about shops what would be relevant for a dancer. And cafes. Maybe you could make a handout of some sort. And there will be plenty of the tourist-y stuff (lamps, tea sets, scarves etc.) between the "dancers' shops", so people interested in that are also happy.

- for people who are interested in more high-end crafts as souvenirs and gifts, you could take them to special workshops. For example, I was taken to an old medrese, which now serves as a crafts workshop, a shop, and a cafe. It is right close to Agia Sofia, but it is on a side street, so it is also wonderfully quiet. And the stuff they have there - calligraphy, ceramics etc. - is wonderful.

- so, personally I would be interested in costumes, food stuffs (I always take food stuff back from home) and maybe a pretty souvenir or two.

Kraliche, I would very much be interested in the Swarowski shop. Can you send me some information about it? Over pm maybe?

(Off to make additions to my shopping list )

Dear Safran, thanks for your idea ... TOPTAN in Turkish, meaning wholesale, if you don't speak Turkish it may be a bit challenge ... but anyway I PMed you

Hand out is a great idea, we will let them have free time to find their own things, instead of waiting for someone to finish. I just cross my fingers that people will come back 1) on time 2) find the meeting point !!!

Spices, I really don't recommend you to buy in Bazar ... often they are not very fresh.
Go to a supermarket, like MIGROS ( orange sign ), and buy packed ones. Now they start to sell organic food, too.

I think for the "Turkish Experience" you should take them to the Grand Basar.
Those who want to order a pro costume can go to Gülseren (she speaks many languages) and others who prefer student/pro costumes will go to Ali Baba.
Anyway, I don't recommend keeping the group together, the shops are not big enough for that.

Give them a crash course in bargaining first!!!!!

This might help for preparation:
Successful shopping in Istanbul
Istanbul - Adresses for Shopping

Have fun!

MEISSOUN

Dear Meissoun,

Thank you very much for sharing your material, they will be a great help to prepare hand-outs.
Hahaha I love the idea of crash course of bargaining ... but no worries, most of the bellydance shop owners are good friends of mine, so I will tell them to "behave"

IMHO, I think MAY COSTUM carries more pro-costumes ... while Gulseren offers more affordable costumes and she has so many stocks which is good for tourists. ( and she is a lovely lady indeed )

I recently had a chat with Gülseren and she said that she changed her range of costumes a bit because she is asked for "cheaper" costumes more often. But she CAN do the pro stuff.
I also saw some very nice ones at Ali Baba's.
Didn't check out May this time, not enough time... His shop is very small, so not too many people can go there at the same time.

MEISSOUN

Oh Meissoun, I don't disagree that Gulseren can MAKE a pro costume, I love your 3-D flower beading old costume that you have ( which I saw in other thread here ).
Yes I agree that she has more affordable costumes in her shops, and I think it is a good offer for those who don't have enough budget to shop in boutiques but want a full costume.

This conversation made me realize that everyone may have different definition/standard of "pro costume", so I will try to be careful and objective when I put comment on each shop.

Thank again for opinion!

Hi Kraliche! Just bumping this thread as the PM-ing does not seem to work - I haven't received yours and I guess you haven't received mine either :S So, if you get the chance, drop me an e-mail at safrandance @ gmail . com