DUBAI // Adeb Dalab likes the convenience of walking next door from his apartment in Tecom to buy groceries, even though the Carrefour Market there has a smaller selection and charges more than a hypermarket further away.
"I just like the fact that I can do my shopping somewhere so close to my apartment," said Mr Dalab, 32, of Jordan, who works in sales.
"I know it's probably a little bit more expensive than the main Carrefour in Mall of the Emirates, or Lulu, but it's worth it. I don't have to drive around for ages looking for a parking space, then fight my way through the crowds at the mall or wait in long queues to pay."
Mr Dalab is among a growing number of consumers who choose to shop very close to home, even if it means paying slightly more for their items.
Experts say people are shopping less frequently at larger chains, and making more stops at smaller markets in their neighbourhoods.
The trend is encouraging some of the biggest supermarket chains to open more small stores in residential areas.
"There is a shift to a more western-style community shopping experience, where people move from doing big shopping once a week to an almost daily shop for fresh food," said David Macadam, the head of retail at real estate consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle. "In choosing between price and convenience, convenience wins every time."
Examples can be found in proposals by both Carrefour and Spinneys to open local supermarkets at the southern end of Al Wasl Road in the next year, he said.
"These retailers are sophisticated, and wouldn't be spending this money to build these community supermarkets unless there is a market for them," Mr Macadam said. "I think they will make their returns pretty quickly. There is a growing trend within the population of going local."
Consumers want supermarkets with easy access to the road network and a 10-minute route that did not involve a lot of traffic lights or turns, Mr Macadam said. He added that many of these new supermarkets acted as "anchors" for the residential developments in the area, and therefore it was attractive for them to be in the market.
Carrefour, which had already boasted 16 Carrefour Market (formerly Carrefour Express) smaller stores in Dubai and Sharjah, plans to open two more by the end of the year in the Diamond View Centre in Jumeirah Lakes Towers and Burj Views, Downtown Dubai.
Franck Rouquet, the vice president of Carrefour Supermarkets in the UAE, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait, said the supermarkets had been filled with consumers.
"As expected, we are finding customers are using our Carrefour Market supermarkets to top-up their larger, monthly shopping trips to a hypermarket," he said.
"With such a high turnover of produce, our supermarkets are receiving fresh produce on a daily basis, which is fundamental to the success of this model."
For Nameeta Jamal, a Kenyan businesswoman who lives in the Dubai Marina, the shift happened only recently.
"I used to do most of my big shopping at the hypermarkets, but now the vast majority of my daily groceries I order from the shop in my building," she said.
She does, however, continue to shop at the more high-end Spinneys and Waitrose markets because of the wider range they offer.
"They have stuff that other supermarkets don't have, so that's the main reason, and I still do my bulk grocery shopping there maybe once a month," she said.
However, some shoppers in Abu Dhabi said they prefer the wider selection and lower prices at hypermarkets.
Aris Abdulaziz of Abu Dhabi, a general manager at a travel agency, said he almost never shops at his local grocery.
"My personal view is that people prefer to go to bigger hypermarkets in malls," said Mr Abdulaziz, a 37-year-old Indian who has lived in the capital for 15 years. "There is a big difference in prices. Your milk and soft drinks are the same price, but rice and other food products are so much more expensive [in smaller stores]."
Mr Abdulaziz also prefers the selection at the mall supermarkets, where he said fresher products are easier to find. "Plus, you can take your family with you to the hypermarket," he said. "It becomes a whole family outing, going to the market together."
Linda Pacioles, 58, a Filipina housemaid who has lived in Abu Dhabi for 28 years, visits a hypermarket once or twice a month for most of her shopping. But she recently visited a small grocery store in the capital's Al Markaziyah neighbourhood to top up her food stock, which had been running low at the end of the month.
"Sometimes, what I need they don't have," she said of the smaller market.
However, she said, the small store is closer to home than the hypermarket, and the trip takes much less time. She said she prefers the convenience of smaller markets "for immediate needs".
nhanif@thenational.ae
* With additional reporting by Vivian Nereim and Jen Thomas
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
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
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
The%20specs%3A%202024%20Mercedes%20E200
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2.0-litre%20four-cyl%20turbo%20%2B%20mild%20hybrid%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E204hp%20at%205%2C800rpm%20%2B23hp%20hybrid%20boost%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E320Nm%20at%201%2C800rpm%20%2B205Nm%20hybrid%20boost%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E9-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E7.3L%2F100km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENovember%2FDecember%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFrom%20Dh205%2C000%20(estimate)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
The Buckingham Murders
Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Prabhleen Sandhu
Director: Hansal Mehta
Rating: 4 / 5
match info
Manchester United 3 (Martial 7', 44', 74')
Sheffield United 0
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Name: Brendalle Belaza
From: Crossing Rubber, Philippines
Arrived in the UAE: 2007
Favourite place in Abu Dhabi: NYUAD campus
Favourite photography style: Street photography
Favourite book: Harry Potter