By observing the image of the trader in Gumri, its bazaars and supermarkets, the author tries to make sense of the city's urban trade and analyse the trade culture of contemporary Gumri. The author argues that trade culture is not a mere perception of the economy; it is also a unique bearer of traditional and modern culture. This is explicit in the case of Gumri, the second largest city in the Republic of Armenia and a city that provides a typical reflection of the past reality of Turkish and Iranian empires. Gumri is a town where modern culture is mixed with trade traditions that came from the Eastern part of Anatolia (Western Armenia, from Kars, Karin-Erzrum). These traditions largely disappeared during Soviet rule but started to resurface after the collapse of the Soviet Union.