Here is few things about Mercato
Mercato is the largest open air market in Africa, covering several square miles and employing an estimated 13,000 people in 7,100 business entities. The primary merchandise passing through the Mercato is locally-grown agricultural products.Here it is possible to find literally everything, from spices to fabrics, gold jewellery to western-style clothes.
Somali Tera, between Merkato and Arada, is the place to go for spare parts for cars. The central wholesale fruit and vegetable market, Atikilt Tera.
Operating six days a week (it is closed on Sundays), there is seemingly little logic to Mercato, whose small shops, stalls and market halls spin off chaotically into labyrinthine alleyways. But after a while the disorder does make some sort of sense. The markets winding lanes are arranged according to the various products so that youll find mounds of colorful plastic goods grouped together, blaring music will lead you to the electronics section, while the pungent aroma of deep red berbere (chilli pepper) draws you to a heady display of spices. Across the way, the market hall housing multitudinous traditional crafts, silver jewelry and woven cloth is a magnet for tourists.
The Grand Anwar Mosque, a small synagogue and numerous Orthodox Christian churches are located in this area.