Grocery Shopping UAE Style

First off, they are not grocery stores or supermarkets here, they are hypermarkets. You have NO idea how appropriate that is unless you have been to one on a Thursday or Friday night. That’s a mistake you don’t make twice. Where I live there are 3 nearby choices: Carrefour, Abu Dhabi Cooperative Society, or Lulu’s. I am absolutely convinced that the parking garage at Carrefour is where all collision claims in Abu Dhabi originate. I avoid it. The Co-op is right across the street from my apartment so if I have ONE thing that I forgot, it’s convenient to walk there. Forget driving. There is no parking garage or lot. It is sometimes a one way street and sometimes a two way street, depending on what the person with the biggest vehicle there at the time has decided. People double park there regularly. They handle this by leaving their cell number in the windshield. The third choice is Lulu’s. That is located in Mushriff Mall and involves parking in a parking garage and then traveling 3 escalators.  I opt for Lulu’s.

"Look Ma, No Hands" The down escalator at Ikea.

The carts are the best! Since you have to use escalators to get in and out, they have wheels that lock. This however, makes them roll sideways down the aisles while you are trying to shop. Since Friday is the holy day here, I shop early Friday afternoon. The place is comparably quiet to the nighttime when it becomes a free for all. People here do not just politely nod and say “Hi” to acquaintances here. You must stop and talk. In the aisle. For a LONG time. Additionally, they take the entire family grocery shopping. This means ALL of the kids and nannies. Shopping on a Thursday or Friday night can only be compared to Best Buy on Black Friday. 

Since no grocery store here is truly convenient and they are all trying to get business away from the others, there are always giveaways going on. For every 100 dirhams ($36) you spend, you get a raffle ticket. Still haven’t won anything. This month Lulu’s is giving away 1,000,000 dirhams to one lucky winner and forty 25,000 dirham shopping vouchers. That would be 70 weeks of free shopping for me!! Woo-hoo. Last month’s BMW would have been better. The Co-op is giving away Mini Coopers.  

Grocery stores do not sell over the counter medications or contact lens solution. Those items you have to go to a separate pharmacy for. Unfortunately the one near the Co-Op has better prices than the one near Lulu’s, but the pharmacist at the one near Carrefour can be convinced to sell me pretty much anything without a prescription. She agrees that between the two of us, we know more than all of the doctors in Abu Dhabi. I have witnessed nothing to convince me otherwise.  

Next blog: Beverly rants about medical care in the UAE.