Too good to last. Some government will soon come and exploit them.
“Here no-one can say to you: ‘No, that’s pirated’ or ‘You can’t sell that here,'” he tells me when I ask if he ever has any trouble from the authorities.
“If we were in the south of the country, you could complain that no customs tax has been paid for example, but when you’re in the New Forces-zone everything can come in and be sold,” he says.
The north of Ivory Coast – an area covering 60% of the country and a zone bigger than England and Wales – remains under the authority of an ex-rebel group, the New Forces, who split the country in two after a rebellion in 2002.
Bouake is the ex-rebel capital of “Soroland”, as the zone is sometimes nicknamed, after the New Forces leader, Guillaume Soro.
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Things are a lot cheaper than in the south – we see that people from the south often come here to stock up for less
Soroland may not be a breakaway zone, but for seven years the inhabitants of this zone have got used to living without government taxes, customs charges and even water and electricity bills.
Reunification – already under way – will be a challenge to complete.
Hussein Doumbia is one of many local business leaders who have learnt to profit from this vast black market zone.
Members of the government’s armed forces formerly aiming to recapture Bouake now profit from the duty-free shopping.
(Read more from news.bbc.co.uk)