Aleppo has traded for eight millennia and its commerce is returning lane by lane. This three-day route runs from the laurel-soap khans and coppersmiths' alleys to the antique dealers of Jdayde and the malls of the west.
Aleppo's soap trade works out of stone khans just inside Bab Antakya, where olive-and-laurel ghar soap cures in stacked towers for nine months. Sold by the kilo and graded 5% to 40% laurel oil; most shops open 09:00–17:00.
The perfumers' and spice lane of the covered market sells Aleppo pepper flakes, sumac, dried mint, mahleb and seven-spice blends straight from open sacks. Traders grind to order and vacuum-pack small quantities for flights.
Behind the Great Mosque, coppersmiths still beat trays, dallah coffee pots and engraved bowls in workshops that double as shopfronts. Interiors are re-tinned by hand while you wait, usually within the hour, for a small extra fee.
The largest of Aleppo's caravanserais, built in 1574, still houses cloth traders around an arcaded courtyard. Look for aghabani embroidered tablecloths, cotton damask and raw silk brocade cut from the bolt by the metre.
The restored Christian quarter around Hatab Square holds antique dealers, icon painters and small design studios inside 16th-century courtyard houses. Ottoman brass, old Aleppo photographs and reissued glazed tiles dominate.
Aleppo's best-known sweet house sells mabroumeh, halawet el-jibn and pistachio-crusted baklava by weight, boxed in tins built for travel. Pistachio density is what you are paying for, and it is visible in the cross-section.
West Aleppo's largest mall reopened after heavy war damage and now runs four floors of Syrian and Turkish chains above a supermarket and food court. Fixed prices, no haggling, air conditioning and reliable restrooms.
The Mogambo stretch in Al-Furqan is where Aleppo actually shops after work: shoe shops, perfumers, small clothing boutiques and phone-accessory counters along a bright, crowded street that peaks between 19:00 and 23:00.
The 16th-century khan facing the citadel now works as a handicraft market, with stalls for mosaic inlay, olive-wood, mother-of-pearl boxes, brass and hand embroidery, most of them run by the makers themselves.
Rebuilt in 2018 under an Aga Khan restoration, this 15th-century grocers' and butchers' lane is trading again under repaired stone vaults, with sellers of village cheese, cured olives, walnut pickles and pressed apricot sheets.
Aleppo's goldsmiths cluster in the lanes below the Bab al-Faraj clock tower, selling 21-carat chains, filigree and Damascene-style blackened silver. Pieces are priced by weight at the day's rate, not by design.
Aleppo's Armenian quarter keeps jewellers' benches, watch repairers and family tailors on the side streets off Midan's main road. Many have no sign at all — the work happens one floor above street level.