That is right...it was so large I could not fit the whole building in the picture. Ugggh! It had a few restaurants (papa john's, etc) a pharmacy, a couple of jewelry shops, internet shop, appliance shop. You name it they had it...and the place was huge!!!! And busy. Apparently, people just come here to hang out. Just to walk around and enjoy the triple-super-walmart-like atmosphere. Triple...this monster wasn't even called a "super" anything it is officially a "HYPER MARKET". There are a few more really big shopping centers for groceries in the area and I have now officially visited them all. There is the Carrefour which I believe is owned be evil walmart. It is located in the mall. People go around the mall with carrefour grocery carts and that is pretty funny. I hate the Carrefour with the same zeal that I hate the walmart. You can find yourself standing in line anywhere between 5 minutes to an hour depending on the time of day. We ordered a wardrobe for the housemaid's room and it was delivered 2 weeks late. After we called them everyday and hassled them over it. I was ready to request a refund the day that it actually arrived. Then there is the Sultan Center...I prefer this place. Not because it has a lot of american food, but because it isn't generally as populated as the other stores and I have never had to wait in line in order to check out. The problem with all of these stores is that it is always hit or miss as to what one carries. For instance, I knew that I had seen throughout my visits to these stores all of the ingredients to make banana pudding. I knew that these ingredients were spread out between several stores, but when I actually went shopping for the products they were no longer at the stores. Nor do they keep things stocked. So, if you find chocolate chips somewhere it is always a good idea to pass on that knowledge to someone else in case they might need some because there is no guarantee that it will be there when you get back...also buy as much as you can when you see it. This kind of supply and demand issue causes problems as the grocery stores don't seem to trust that if a product is missing that means that people WANT it and to order some more. Shopping is always interesting and I feel like it takes up an exhorbitant amount of my time. Someone needs to start an online business that a person can visit, type in the things they want and the program will pull up where they are located, how many the store has and the prices. Then they can go purchase it for me...I would pay a great deal to avoid having to visit several different stores for a single dish. Is there anyone out there looking for a job? Will you be my personal grocery shopper? Of course, I do enjoy looking at all of the unusual (to me) products and sometimes throwing them in the cart and bringing them home with me so that I can try it. If I didn't go physically shopping I would miss out on the joy of finding something new to try.
These stores are so big that they have escalators especially built to accomodate your shopping carts.
5 comments:
Al Fair was originally part of a British chain called Spinneys. They specialize in catering to the Brits and their stores in Dubai are going to be rebranded Waitrose as they eventually switch to being part of that upmarket British chain. It is very very expensive to do your groceries at Al Fair. Sultan Center is a Kuwaiti chain, and that's why they have so many American products. Carrefour, as the name says, is a French chain and they are not part of Walmart. In fact they are their main competitors around the world.
Like you have already found out, the only way to get your stuff here is to go to more than place. I go to Lulu for my major grocery shopping but I still go to Al Fair for bread and deli stuff and some of the British stuff that I got used to from when I lived there. And I go to Sultan whenever I have a craving for American things that no one else sells.
We stockpile.
So when Sultan center has cans of Egg nog or Corned beef hash or Chicken fried steak, we buy a year's supply. Same goes for fresh corn meal, we buy fifteen bags of it, and freeze it. Anytime I want tamale, I can have tamale.
Should the apocolypse occur today, we would be just fine.
Go get yourself a chest freezer from Carrefour, and three sets of stainless steel shelving from a restaurant supply store. Stockpile, and rotate product religously.
Great post Amber!
C-C-Crap! That means suburban is the one buying all the egg nog!
Muscati hit it on the head. Personally, apart from the Al-Fair in MQ, my opinion is that the rest of them are all dirty dumps. Sultan is great for the American stuff and if you have that little reward card, sometimes you can get more of a discount when they have their rewards specials. I really, really miss weekly grocery store specials. I don't get why marketing sucks so bad here, but eh...I live by the beach so guess you can't have it all.
Suburban gave a great idea on the freezer, but if you're an organize-freak like me, I highly suggest buying two of the upright with drawers in them. Or, Westinghouse has a monster one that would probably do for you guys.
p.s. Suburban - don't touch the packets of grits @ Al-Fair, ok, hun?
There is an entire shelf of EggNog at Sultan Center...expensive though. 2.89 RO per can...don't fight over it though...just get there fast - first come first served.
Also, thanks for letting me know where I can get grits!!! Sourthern girl who eats fried eggs, grits, butter, salt and pepper all blended together - Yummy!
I don't know where we would put a freezer...
Ditto on the upright freezer. We got one a couple of months ago. It doesn't take any more space than a fridge and it's definitely worth having. Ours is a Whirlpool. We got it at Emax for less than 200 rials.
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