Niamey Grand Market

[1] The large market complex lies in the center of the city in a neighborhood named "Grand Marché" after it, east and south of the European style commercial and government center of the "Plateau" neighborhood.

It was built within a colonial era park which divided the "European" and "African" sections of the city, south and west of the modern Stade Général Seyni Kountché and Niamey Grande Mosquée.

A fire on 30 March 1982 destroyed the market, and it was reopened on 5 January 1987, after a rebuilding project which cost some 5 Billion CFA Francs.

That incarnation housed 4000 shops, ranging from simple stalls and covered tables to the 1863 permanent structures which range from metal stalls to modern stores in two large buildings.

[5] The market complex is operated by a national government body, SOCOGEM ("Société de construction et de gestion des marchés", "Society for the Construction and Operation of Markets").

The edge of the Grand marché. The distinctive tree-like pillars which surround the central buildings can be seen on the extreme right of this picture.