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Al-basta (Iraqi goods displayed for sale on the sidewalk) used to be for the poor. It then became a small business, garnering modest profit. Today, these sidewalk displays generate regular daily profits and compete with the stores and shops around them.
Shaker Ahmed manages two square meters of sidewalk in front of a shop in Hilla, Babel, south of Baghdad. He pays the shop’s owner $3,000 a year to rent the location.
