The Cairo market which attracts Egypt’s Gen Z hipsters

Wekala is a popular second-hand shopping district in central Cairo, and a cultural heartbeat of the city, reports Edgar Mannheimer from Egypt

Henny in Wekala market (Edgar Mannheimer)

Between endless rows of white hangers stretching far as the eye can see, 25-year-old Henny sifts and thrifts through second hand Versace, NRA T-shirts, corduroy trousers and endless multi-coloured houndstooth blazers.

“Sometimes I’ll buy a baby T-shirt and use it as a crop-top,” she whispers as a tuk-tuk swishes by, honking its horn at shoppers to make way. Tuk-tuks are the only motorised vehicles that will fit on the small slab of concrete still visible from what used to be a two-way avenue.

This is the main strip of Wekala, Cairo’s popular second-hand shopping district. Located in one of the city’s oldest working-class neighbourhoods, Boulaq, it is a place that came into existence in the 1970s through the power of political culture and social change.