Tehran - Iran - page 131

Sports
Iran's favourite sport is football (soccer), which is played at several smaller stadiums and
the 100,000-capacity Azadi Sports Stadium (Karaj Hwy; Azadi Stadium) . Matches
are normally played on Thursday and Friday but to find out where, your best bet is to ask
a man working in your hotel. If the big Tehran derby between Esteqlal and Persepolis is
on, go - assuming you are not a woman, as only men are allowed in.
The Azadi complex also stages wrestling and even motor racing - though for the latter
you could save your time and just sit in the middle of any Tehran traffic circle. Most other
sports are played behind high walls in small stadia around the city.
TEHRAN'S BAZARIS
In Iran a bazaar is more than just a place to stock up on a few essential shopping items. For centuries the bazaris,
who run the businesses in the bazaar, have held enormous economic and political power. They are usually conser-
vative, religious people who have a long history of standing against authority. In an attempt to weaken their power
the last shah bulldozed new roads through parts of the bazaar, gave subsidised credit to competing supermarkets and
set up state purchasing bodies to handle sugar, meat and wheat. Not surprisingly, the Tehran bazaris hit back during
the Islamic Revolution when the closure of the bazaar wrought havoc on the economy. They were equally influential
in the 1906 Constitutional Revolution and the coup that ousted Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953 (for
details, Click here ).
While international-style shopping centres are appearing in major cities, most Iranians still shop in a bazaar or a
smaller store that buys wholesale from a bazaar. It has been estimated Tehran Bazar controls one-third of Iran's en-
tire retail and trade sector. Prices here set the standard for prices across the country and competition is intense -
there are, for example, more than 4000 carpet merchants in 60 passages. For an idea of how lucrative a Tehran Baz-
ar storefront can be, consider that in 2011 a carpet dealer sold his 4m x 6m store on one of the major passages for
US$1 million. The buyer, an importer of fifty-cent undergarments from China, expected to sell US$2 million in
knickers in his first year.
However, the power of the bazaris is waning. Competition from new supermarkets and the time it takes for most
Tehranis to reach the bazaar is inevitably bleeding money away from this traditional market, and with it the power
of its merchants.
Shopping
Souvenir shopping in Tehran is not as enjoyable as working your way through the atmo-
spheric bazaars of Esfahan and Shiraz. However, the range is bigger and the prices usually
smaller. It's well worth giving yourself a half-day to wander through the Tehran Bazar