Linda Hall’s generosity supplies students in Turkey, feeds the hungry here at home, and beautifies all of our lives.
If you’ve never been to Linda Hall’s Turkish Bazaar, you’ve surely heard tell of its riches. Started in 2006 and held twice a year in all its glamor, this exotic market makes the luxurious silks, pearls, and other finery you’d see in the best street market in Istanbul available and extremely affordable right here in Morgantown.
The bazaar’s origins lie in the coincidence of the catastrophic İzmit earthquake striking Turkey in August 1999, just a few months before Hall was scheduled to visit the country with her sister. Rather than rescheduling, Hall, a 7th grade teacher at Westwood Middle School at the time, decided to take supplies for school children affected by the devastation. The reception was grateful, and she began going every spring and fall with supplies for 2nd and 3rd grade children and teachers in the outskirts of Istanbul.
With each return trip, Hall’s bags were stuffed with more and more market finds. She started the Turkish Bazaar in her home in 2006, twice a year following her trips. Word of mouth alone soon packed her house, and she moved the event first to the Mon Arts Center downtown and, by 2012, to the Euro-Suites Hotel.
Hall’s generosity on her trips to Turkey over the decades has won her many trusting friendships in the communities and markets she visits. One vendor there—she has known him since before he was married, and his children are both in college now—makes purchases for her from other sellers, boxes the goods, ships them to her, and trusts her to reimburse him for his up-front costs after the totals are known.
During the worst of COVID-19, Hall received fewer goods and held smaller bazaars back in her own home again, by private appointment only.
But, in August of this year, she was finally able to take backpacks full of pencils, crayons, toothbrushes, and more to Turkish school children. And next week, for the first time since the fall of 2019, the Turkish Bazaar returns in its full, extravagant glory. “I’m excited to be back at Euro-Suites Hotel this year,” Hall says. “They have completely renovated their lobby and rooms, and I think my regular customers will be wowed to see the upgrades.”
Like everywhere, Turkey is experiencing supply chain problems, but Hall’s inventory is good. “I have a lot of scarves and beautiful jewelry—my best-seller is a silk gossamer scarf that I have bought since 1999, and it’s $15 for pure silk. Smaller pure silk scarves are $5. I also have a few that are more elaborate and more expensive,” she says. “My freshwater pearls are still the best buy that you can get—they average about $1 an inch, which is unheard of.” Shoppers will find sought-after Turkish towels, intricate Turkish ceramics, and more.
Sixteen years after her first bazaar, Hall often sees people wearing the distinctive pieces she imported—including two women at a wedding she attended just a few weeks ago. She enjoys being part of the global exchange. “It’s sort of a circle—I buy things from Turkey, people buy things from me, I get good buys, they get good buys, people get nice things,” she says. Some of it circles back into supplies for Turkish schools and children. And some of it, through a $1 donation Hall requests at the door for Morgantown Community Kitchen, circles back to address food insecurity here at home—more than $10,000 over the years, she says.
Shopping hours this fall are 11 a.m.–7 p.m., Monday, October 31 through Thursday, November 3.
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