An undated file photo of a shopkeeper at Thursday Friday Souq.
Sales at the old Thursday-Friday Souq located near the Central Market are on the decline while business thrives at the new market located in Barwa Commercial Avenue. The new souq receives thousands of visitors daily, according to sources.
“New hypermarkets have been opened all over Doha, with monthly and weekly promotions on household items. This is the main reason our regular customers don’t buy from us any more. The prices here are low compared to other shops in Doha,” Muhammed Jassim, the owner of Tawakkal Store located in old Thursday-Friday Souq, told The Peninsula.
“The rents of shops have been increased by 10% this year and sales have fallen tremendously. Our sales used to be in thousands 30 years ago and now the maximum sale is QR500 per day. The rent of the shop used to be QR2,400 and now it has increased. We pay QR10,600 in rent every month now,” he added.
"We import our furniture from Syria. These are antiques and citizens love to decorate their homes with antiques. Earlier, our sale used to be good as there were not many shops in Qatar," he said.
Tariq Ul Islam, salesman at the winter and Summer Ready-made Center in Thursday-Friday Souq, said: “There is tough competition now between Doha hypermarkets and shops located here. Local customers used to find all they wanted here earlier, and now they only buy garments for their maids and workers. If we put all our efforts, the maximum sale is worth QR1,500.”
“Local customers get their antique furniture for ‘Majlis’ from our shop. The sale has decreased compared to last year. Usually, the sale increases in the month of Ramadan. The maximum sale per day is QR 6,000 and minimum sale is QR2,000. The shops located in Doha have higher prices as compared to our shop,” said an employee at Bilad Al Sham Production Showroom of antique furniture located in Old Thursday-Friday Souq.
Ahmed Abdul Rehman, Manager of Al Rahatan Coffee Shop at old Thursday-Friday Souq, said: “We have a huge crowd in our cafe every evening. For 30 years we have maintained our customers on a daily basis. The main reason behind our regular customers is we have same rates from the beginning. Shisha price is not less than QR30 all around Doha but at our cafe we serve shisha starting from QR16 to QR 7 with hot drinks.”
The new Thursday-Friday Souq situated in Barwa Commercial Avenue receives more than a thousand customers daily. The sale is increasing day by day; commercial area receives more happy customers as compared to Old Thursday-Friday Souq.
Radawan Al Abed, Media Manager at New Thursday-Friday Souq said: “Our clients are satisfied with the sales. They have regular customers which help them sell on a daily basis. The rent of each shop is charged per meter. QR700 per meter is the charge for each shopkeeper. During weekends, we receive around 3,000 customers, whereas on week days we receive a thousand customers. Social media helps the customers with new promotional sales, through different media we covey our messages to our customers.”
