Burma Bazaar is a sprawling informal market district near the Chennai Harbour, occupying a cluster of permanent sheds and street stalls that have been the domain of Burmese Indian traders since the partition of Burma from British India in 1937. Waves of ethnic Indian refugees from Burma — Tamils and Telugus whose families had been merchants in Rangoon — settled in this area and recreated the trading culture they had known there.
The bazaar became famous for imported goods that were hard to find elsewhere in India during the decades of import restrictions: electronics, perfumes, foreign cigarettes, and foreign-brand goods of questionable origin. The gray-market character has evolved as India's economy liberalised, but the bazaar retains its atmosphere of slightly illicit commercial energy.
Today you'll find electronics, cosmetics, clothing, and a wide range of goods at prices lower than retail. The area around Rajaji Salai, near Chennai Harbour, is the main zone. Come here if you want to understand a piece of the city's history of migration and adaptation — and if you need a phone charger at a reasonable price.