The domed-capped Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, was ravaged by numerous fires and earthquakes in the past and now is hit hard by the ongoing economic crisis.

Called simply the Kapali Carsi (Covered Market) in Turkish, the 548-year-old bazaar located at the heart of Istanbul is experiencing the worst time in the past 20 years with both business volume and profit tumbling by about 50 percent.

No matter rain or sunshine, the Grand Bazaar is a great place for tourists from the world. Visitors, old and young, male or female, love to take pictures of the ancient shops, but now they do not buy as much as they used to against the backdrop of the economic crisis.

Grand Bazaar Tradesmen Association (GBTA) Chairman Hasan Firat said the crisis did not have an impact on the number of tourists visiting, yet it decreased the incomes of the stores since tourists do not spend as much as they used to.

"The tourists shopping at the bazaar spend 10 to 50 dollars, and a lot of tourists stop by Istanbul for a day on their way to other places and do not shop much or spend a lot of money during the crisis," he added.

He said tourists demand extremely low prices, bargaining to a point where their bidding is lower than the cost of the product, adding that shop owners could not sell below the cost of the product or else they would go bankrupt.

Covering 30 hectares of land, the Grand Bazaar is a maze of more than 60 streets and by lanes dotted with 3,600 shops selling practically everything under the sun.

The bazaar was built in 1461 under the rule of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror and had many restorations over the years due to the extensive fires and destructive earthquakes.

It has grown to be an authentic shopping paradise where one can find a large variety of Ottoman and European art and antiques, silver, textile, paintings, etc.

It is a colorful place with peddlers shouting their wares and customers bargaining, and it is always abuzz with activity. There are all the makings of a small town: police station, mosques, restaurants and tea houses.

A visit to the Grand Bazaar offers a unique shopping experience steeped in the flavors of Turkish life and culture. It is no wonder that the bazaar gets 250,000 - 400,000 visitors each day.

However, shop owners are not happy with business at present. Serder Asica, 45-year-old manager of a leather shop in the bazaar, said with a sigh, "Business in the shop has dropped 60 percent in the past two years because of the economic crisis. Tourists used to buy leather coats and expensive fir, but now they stop buying these items, they just spend little money on gifts and souvenirs."

It is true indeed that tourists from neighboring countries, Europe and the United States try hard to negotiate prices as they see best fit.

A lady bought 10 head scarves for 40 dollars. A male tourist from China paid 1,000 dollars for a wool carpet marked for 3,000 dollars.

Erdal Kaya, 40 years old, runs a carpet shop, selling silk and wool carpets in the bazaar for 20 years. He told Xinhua that carpet business is very bad this year, saying he used to sell five or six pieces a day but it can only sell two or three per day now.

Carpet prices are 25-30 percent lower than those in the past, while the profit down about 50 percent.

He said life is bit hard for him now and that he has to put all the savings into the business because he runs family business and has seven employees in the shop.

Business people in the bazaar voiced their hardship to the Turkish government during the worldwide economic crisis.

As a response, the government has reduced both value-added tax (VAT) and income tax. VAT has been cut down from 18 percent to 8 percent while income tax lowered from 30 percent to 23 percent.

Erdal said he thanked the government for the policy, but he would rather see a good business and pay a high tax.

He expressed hope that all countries in the world would take actions to reduce the negative impact upon the people and that the world economic crisis would be over soon.

Highlighting the negative impact of the economic crisis on employment, GBTA chairman Firat said, "Many stores fired their employees and decreased salaries. They also hired new people, offering lower salaries."

In the past, they used to hire employees who could speak one or more foreign languages with salaries plus bonuses around 5,000 liras (about 3,400 US dollars). Now, the monthly salary for an employee hardly exceeds 1,000 liras.

Sadi Ozukanas, an employee of a leather shop in the bazaar, seems luckier than others because he earns 1,200 dollars a month from the shop. He thinks he deserves the salary because he can speak seven foreign languages, including English, Greek, Russian and Yugoslavian.

However, this amount of money is not enough for him to support his family. He told Xinhua that "I have to earn extra money because I have a wife and three children. My 18-year-old daughter is in the university and I have responsibility to support her."

The sluggish business in the ancient bazaar is a mirror of the negative impact of the economic crisis upon social life in Turkey and other parts of the world.

Turkey's gross domestic product contracted by 7 percent in the second quarter this year compared to the same period of 2008. Many analysts expect a decline of 8 percent year on year.