Port Said built its fortune on duty-free trade, and shopping here still means free-zone halls of imported goods, downtown cotton houses and a ferry across to Port Fouad's weaving workshops. Prices run well under Cairo's.
Port Said's Friday market sprawls through El Zohour's side streets from dawn until about 14:00, stacked with imported jeans, Turkish towels, enamel kitchenware and second-hand jackets sold by the kilo.
The city's oldest commercial spine runs inland from the canal, lined with fabric houses selling Egyptian long-staple cotton by the metre and tailors who will cut a shirt in 48 hours from your own measurements.
Behind the fish market sit Port Said's famous salted-fish shops: mullet fesikh in glass jars, smoked ringa herring vacuum-packed for travel and tins of pressed roe. Several family firms have traded here since the 1930s.
The covered-arcade half of downtown, where leather sandal makers, watch repairers and shops selling the striped galabeyas worn by canal workers share one long colonnade. Shutters lift again after evening prayer.
The duty-free zone is why Egyptians take the night train here: multi-storey halls of imported electronics, trainers, blankets and perfume priced roughly 20-30% under Cairo. Halls run 10:00 to 21:00 daily.
Al Nahda Street is the closest thing Port Said has to a boutique row: small independent labels doing modest-wear abayas, embroidered kaftans and linen shirts, several run by graduates of the local applied-arts faculty.
The waterfront stretch of Tarh El Bahr is the jewellery quarter, with workshops weighing 18- and 21-carat pieces on public scales and chalking the day's gold rate on a board by the door. Craftsmanship is charged separately.
Tariq 23 July fills after sunset, when families shop for shoes, luggage and children's clothes under strip lighting while vendors sell roasted seeds between the stalls. Peak trade is 20:00 to midnight.
A free ferry crosses the canal in about seven minutes to Port Fouad, where the market around Al Gomhoreya Square sells hand-knotted rag rugs, palm-frond baskets and ship-chandler oddments landed by canal crews.
Behind Port Fouad's garden district, small workshops weave rag rugs on treadle looms and patch sails and deck awnings; some sell offcut canvas totes stamped with the names of vessels they were cut for.
The daily market of the Arab quarter is where residents shop rather than visitors: enamel coffee pots, hand-hammered aluminium trays, block-printed cotton and spices weighed straight from open sacks. Cash only.
Mohamed Ali Street's attar shops decant rose, jasmine and amber oils into small cut-glass bottles and blend loose tea, hibiscus and cardamom by the scoop. Most trade until 22:00 in a strong smell of resin and cloves.