SHARJAH // Shop owners in Sharjah's biggest and oldest traditional souk are losing patience with authorities who promised to expand the facility in a bid to help struggling businesses.
The municipality said last year that it had plans to add fast-food restaurants and a children's play area to transform the souk, one of Sharjah's major landmarks, into one of its biggest tourist hubs.
The souk, constructed in 1978 on the Khalid lagoon along the Buhairah Corncihe, is one of the most noteworthy architectural sites in the Emirates. It has some 600 shops, including 80 stores on its staircases.
An official said that while there had been some delays in the project, it was still on track.
"Central Market is our architectural masterpiece," said the official, who asked not to be named.
"We want to restore its attractiveness to the old days and a project to expand it has already been approved by the municipality council."
While the official said work on the project would begin before the end of this year, he would not say when the project would be completed.
"There are still a couple of things we are finishing with the contractors before we come up with full details," he said.
The sooner they start the better for shop owners such as Rasha Abdel Aziz, who has a garment store in the souk. She said that business was so poor that she could not meet her monthly expenses.
"I bought this shop last year because I heard the municipality was going to build a children's playground," she said. "I believed families would bring their children here to play as they shop with us, but up to now nothing has happened."
She believed that residents were fond of the traditional souq but said they had to adapt to changing trends in the retail sector. Almost all shopping malls now have play areas and, with Sharjah being a mostly residential community, families want to shop where their children can play, she said.
Zubair Ahmed, another shop owner, said the souk should offer services including banking, money exchange, restaurants and cinemas.
He also said that being in the centre of the city was not helping the souk attract shoppers and that many shops had already closed because their owners could not make a profit.
Soweid Ahmed, a Syrian who sells shoes in the market, said the souk had been all but forgotten by municipal authorities.
"The building is not well maintained and its toilets are often dirty," he said. "Who do you expect to come to such a place in this modern times of shining malls? What upsets me most is that we have to pay maintenance fee every year but we never get the worth of this money."
ykakande@thenational.ae
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
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Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
THE SPECS
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Engine: 3.6L V-6
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Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
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Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
The biog
Name: Capt Shadia Khasif
Position: Head of the Criminal Registration Department at Hatta police
Family: Five sons and three daughters
The first female investigator in Hatta.
Role Model: Father
She believes that there is a solution to every problem
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
La Mer lowdown
La Mer beach is open from 10am until midnight, daily, and is located in Jumeirah 1, well after Kite Beach. Some restaurants, like Cupagahwa, are open from 8am for breakfast; most others start at noon. At the time of writing, we noticed that signs for Vicolo, an Italian eatery, and Kaftan, a Turkish restaurant, indicated that these two restaurants will be open soon, most likely this month. Parking is available, as well as a Dh100 all-day valet option or a Dh50 valet service if you’re just stopping by for a few hours.
The bio
Favourite food: Japanese
Favourite car: Lamborghini
Favourite hobby: Football
Favourite quote: If your dreams don’t scare you, they are not big enough
Favourite country: UAE
MATCH INFO
Sheffield United 2 Bournemouth 1
United: Sharp (45 2'), Lundstram (84')
Bournemouth: C Wilson (13')
Man of the Match: Jack O’Connell (Sheffield United)
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The advice provided in our columns does not constitute legal advice and is provided for information only. Readers are encouraged to seek independent legal advice.
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
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Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.