The first words addressed to the narrator of this story by Mangan's sister, the object of his distant affections, are a query as to whether he is "going to Araby." Araby, she explains "would be a splendid bazaar," to which she would love to go. A bazaar in the context of Ireland is a sort of street market or jumble-sale, usually comprised of stalls set up in a town square or in the street and selling a variety of miscellaneous items. A bazaar would not be a permanent fixture. The fact that this one is called "Araby" probably makes it appear particularly exotic to the characters in the story.
The boy promises that if he does go to the bazaar, "I will bring you something," and he asks permission of his aunt to go on Saturday night. It is suggested that his uncle agrees to take him, but when...
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the boy reminds his uncle about the bazaar on Saturday night, "he had forgotten." The uncle gives him a florin and allows the boy to go alone. Because he is unfamiliar with the bazaar and unaccompanied, he searches in vain for "a sixpenny entrance" and in the end enters through a turnstile, for which he pays a shilling. By this point, however, "nearly all the stores were closed."