Ouaga trades in things made by hand: lost-wax bronze from backyard foundries, Faso Dan Fani cotton woven on pedal looms, goat leather and shea butter sold by the kilo. Three days routed through the workshops and cooperatives where makers set their own prices.
Ouaga's northern wholesale market, where Sahel traders unload Fulani silver, camel-leather bags and indigo cloth trucked down from Dori and Gorom-Gorom. Trading peaks 07:00-11:00, so arrive early with small notes.
A neighbourhood market on the Bobo road that locals use for cloth, not tourists. Rolls of Faso Dan Fani hand-loomed cotton sell by the metre alongside second-hand Dutch wax, plus tailors who cut a shirt in a day.
A walled compound of roughly 200 workshops on Boulevard Charles de Gaulle where bronze casters, leather workers and batik dyers make pieces in front of you. Open Mon-Sat 08:00-18:00, fixed-price shops at the front.
Dense fabric market northwest of the centre, strongest on printed wax, bazin riche and embroidered boubous. Late afternoon is when the tailors' machines start up and the cloth sellers cut deals to clear the day's stock.
The state craft centre, with a showroom of vetted work — bogolan mud-cloth panels, Mossi masks, forged iron — and price tags, so it doubles as a baseline before you haggle anywhere else in Ouaga.
The city's long-standing bookshop on Ouaga's main commercial avenue, stocking Burkinabè and Sahel-region authors, Nazi Boni and Monique Ilboudo, plus French-language maps and school editions you won't find abroad.
Gallery-boutique in the leafy diplomatic quarter selling curated West African sculpture, textiles and furniture at gallery prices, with a shaded courtyard restaurant attached for when the afternoon heat wins.
The expat supermarket, useful for the edible souvenirs: Burkinabè cashews, bissap syrup, Sahel honey and locally pressed shea butter in sealed jars that survive a flight home.
The permanent pavilions of Africa's biggest craft fair, held in even-numbered years each autumn. Off-season, resident cooperatives keep stalls open and sell fair stock at clearance rates with almost no other buyers around.
The museum shop is small but sells provenance-labelled Mossi, Bwa and Lobi reproductions made by named workshops, plus catalogues in French that explain what the masks on every market stall actually mean.
A compact residential market that supplies the embassy quarter, so quality is high and pressure is low. Shea butter, sesame, cashews and dried hibiscus sold from open sacks, plus a good row of basket weavers.
Its médiathèque and shop carry FESPACO catalogues, Burkinabè film posters and small-press books that never reach the markets, and the courtyard notice board lists which artisan collectives are exhibiting that month.