There I went, to Marrakech for the first time to buy things for my own webshop. Before that time, I had already been to Marrakech once before, in 2019, where I also came up with the idea for my webshop. So I still knew my way around and already had some idea of what kind of products I wanted. In preparation, I had created a document containing photos of the products that I had already seen before and wanted to buy, along with the prices and quantities that I had in mind.
In Marrakech it is very normal to haggle about the price: often the sellers in the souks (shops in the middle of the Medina/old town) quote a very high price, after which you quote a much lower price and ultimately you end up somewhere in the middle. There are also so many shops with the same type of items, that after asking and negotiating a few times you will realize what's a reasonable price.
During my stay at Riad Dar Blanche (a Riad is a traditional Moroccan house with an atrium or courtyard, often hidden in the alleys of the Medina), owner Karim introduced me to some people: he took me out for a whole day to look for the right partners/suppliers. From there I continued on my own.
First I came across the beautiful Mother of Pearl candle holders and jewellery boxes, at Didi's shop. He didn't have enough of everything I wanted in stock, but after making some phone calls, he was able to arrange it.
In Marrakech you will see many stalls with beautiful home textiles: rugs, plaids, cushion covers. Since I wanted to take as much as possible with me and had limited space, I went for cushion covers. For now I have only taken the white one in two different sizes, but hopefully more different types and colors will follow in the future. Unfortunately, salesman Amrani did not have enough of this in stock, but this was no problem: he immediately had it produced for me. Two days later the cushion covers were delivered to my Riad, in a wheelbarrow.
I still had the nice golden palm hooks (large and small) on my mind from my previous trip to Marrakech. I had to take these home, too! And we succeeded, thanks to Youssef!
A few years earlier I had seen nice glass jewellery boxes in hexagon shape, with gold-colored metal. I remembered the square where I spotted these at the time, but unfortunately I couldn't find the boxes anymore. At the square, you will see many other products with gold-colored metal. After asking around, I found a shop that was happy to make this for me. We went over the measurements and discussed how much they could produce in the short time I was still in Marrakech. The evening before my departure, I went back to Youssef and Abdul, who worked very hard to finish everything. Together we packed the glass boxes tightly in old newspapers and placed them in cardboard boxes.
Then I had to find a way to get everything home with me. In the end I had to buy three more suitcases and it fit perfectly! Off to home with all of my products, to take photo's and add them to the webshop!