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Marrakech Shopping Guide

Oct 19, 2017

Posted by: Caitlin Bryhn Lacey

A stroll in the Atlas mountains

In the spirit of FOMO, my neurotic inner voice turns up the volume in the weeks preceding travel to an international destination. I crave the assurance that I've visited the most special shops in any given city. In my experience, a single Vogue Recommended Guide doesn't cut the mustard.

With all due respect, the dudes and crunchy ladies who write for Lonely Planet are experts when it comes to where to book a camel ride, but a disaster of banality when asked to supply shopping options. 

My job prior to Lacerlot was at a worldwide boutique and shopping discovery platform Snapette, where we identified and profiled the best places to shop on earth.

That professional experience isn't even the most relevant here: it's the violence of my anxiety that I'll fail to find hidden gems during my potentially once-in-a-lifetime visit which leads me to put the prep hours in. 

Your hotel will most likely provide you with a map of the main shopping market - the Medina - which illustrates areas to wander to based on category (home decor to apothecary to food etc).

The Medina is exhilarating but also exhausting, and borders on a Disneyland vibe. My favorite shops in Marrakech were all outside of the Medina in quiet, tucked away alleys.

Mustapha Blaoui: 

144 Arset Aouzal Rd, Marrakesh 40000

Picture this: you're standing in a narrow alley with nothing remarkable on either side of you other than a vegetable cart and and parked bicycles. 
The exterior of Mustapha Blaoui
You'll see a closed, unmarked round door. When Google Maps brought us to this spot, I stopped and said to Peter "it must be mixed up." Sensing our confusion, a Moroccan guy who was walking by said "Mustapha" with a nod and pointed at the door. We hesitantly opened it and walked into a 5 story Alibaba treasure cave.
Peter holds two of Mustapha Blaoui's lanterns for size reference
The highlight is their ceiling lanterns :)
https://www.facebook.com/blaouimustapha/

    Soufiane Zarib:

    Rue Riad Laarouss, Dar El Bacha 16
    40000 Marrakech
    Find these international award-winning rug artists in hidden store, just a 5-minute walk from Mustapha Blaoui. These guys have several stalls in the Medina, but ignore those and go to their new lovely showroom. As of our visit in March 2017, their storefront was an unmarked door. Once you arrive, ring the doorbell and someone will let you in. I found them on Instagram- an account worth following for aesthetic eye candy.
    A family business
    When we arrived in Morocco, I physically tracked down someone in their family business in the Medina, and he then gave me the secret address for their new showroom: 16 Riad El Arous (you won't find it in Google Maps)

    Screengrab from the app Hip Marrakech

    Their Instagram also displays their WhatsApp info in case you need help finding the store. 
    Their 3+ story showroom
    There's a rug street near the main square in the Medina. It's worth looking at so you get a sense of quality, which you can then compare to Soufiane Zarib. I thought the rugs in the Medina were kind of dirty and not that special, so I was inclined to purchase from Soufiane or Mustapha. 

      Atika:

      Atika's beautiful loafers

      Pricey compared to the rest of Marrakech's shoe market because they make exact handmade leather replicas of Tod's.
      Atika location and store hours
      The shoes are around $80 a pair, and it's a bit hit or miss, since you'll only be able to get whatever colors they have in stock at the moment, and they can't ship due to trademark restraints. 

        There is a street in the Medina just for shoes and it's totally overwhelming and delightful. They're basically all the same designs- no loafers, mainly Berber leather slippers. You shouldn't pay anymore than $15/pair, and we ended up paying $7.50 per pair when we bought four. 
        The Berber slippers we brought back for the family

        Miscellaneous Tips: 

        • Pack an empty duffle bag with you to carry your loot home. Shipping costs are bizarrely expensive from Morocco to the USA. Once you're home, sellers who promised to communicate with you via email or WhatsApp to arrange shipments will disappear. They're probably too busy with their immediate in-person customers to bother with you. 
        • Google Maps is finicky in Marrakech and it often leads you to the incorrect addresses. We used an app called Hip Marrakech, which works offline and led us to all the right places: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hip-marrakech/id798546459?mt=8
        • You have to haggle for everything in Morocco, even when there's a price tag on an item. The advice we heard was to start your negotiation at 10% of the seller's initial price, and expect to end up in the middle, which worked for us. Negotiate in the fancier stores like Mustapha and Soufiane as well (in Atika the prices are fixed). 
        • If you take a taxi, negotiate the price before getting in. A ride shouldn't cost more than 30 dirham within the city (expect 150 dirham to and from the airport).
        • Steer clear of the little boys and teenagers who try to tell you where to go. The racket is to mislead you, then make you pay $ to redirect you to the right spot. Ask a woman or a shopkeeper for help instead.