Every Saudi city has an old souq still in business: Souq Al-Zal in Riyadh, the markets of Al-Balad in Jeddah, Al-Qaysariyah in Al-Ahsa. With the arrival of the malls the role of these markets changed: they are no longer where everything is bought, but places you go to for one particular thing — or to look.
The souq as theatre
When a souq becomes a destination, the seller’s own performance changes: he explains more, allows photographs, and presents the object as a story rather than a commodity. That is a shift worth documenting rather than lamenting.
Who stays?
What remains in the old souq are the customers who do not go to malls: the elderly, the craftspeople who buy their materials there, and whoever is looking for something not sold anywhere else. They are the ones who keep the souq a souq.
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