The big trading centre on Calea București, and nothing like the malls. Several long pavilions lettered A to D, each one a run of narrow aisles with small stands either side, plus rows of single-storey units around the yard. Clothes, shoes, fabric by the metre, curtains and drapery, haberdashery, bed linen, cosmetics, toys, tools, phone accessories and repair, a barber, an insurance desk, a bureau de change with Western Union, a key-cutter, and fruit and vegetables sold off crates outside. Prices are well under the malls and most stands are a single trader rather than a chain. Cash is safest, though many stands take cards. Bring patience for the parking, which is tight.
Barely cooled. A few stands run their own unit, but the aisles hold the heat and the yard between the pavilions has no shade at all — go early on a hot day.
The pavilions are signed by letter at each door, and the stand numbers run along the aisles — people give directions here as ‘Pavilion B, stand 955’ rather than by shop name. Walk the whole of one aisle before buying: the same goods are usually on several stands at different prices.
There are croitorie stands inside — sewing machines, walls of thread, a rail of finished work — doing alterations and repairs while the rest of the pavilion trades around them. Useful for a hem, a zip or taking a jacket in, and cheaper than anywhere in the centre. The opening hours are on a paper sheet pinned by each stand, and Sunday is usually closed.
A whole run of the complex is fabric: bolts stood on end in bags, upholstery and dress cloth cut to length, and a pavilion frontage given over to curtains and drapery. If you are furnishing a rented flat, this is the cheap way to do the windows.
Calea București 129A, Craiova 200620 · +40251438001