Those of you, like Huttonian, who feel daunted about trawling the 5 aisles of 'must haves' at the Coop in Duns will feel exhausted at the prospect of shopping the new Mall in Dubai-well described in the online FT here 600 retail 'outlets' -shops in old money, bustling with well heeled patrons who may be turned off by the lack of a ski slope 'in store' as available at another Dubai 'marketing complex'

Huttonian had four years in Dubai from 1981-85. It was then no where as massively grotesque as it is now. Some 7,000 Brits lived there.Perhaps 30,000 now. One of my senior colleagues had been in Sharjah, the state next to Dubai in the late 1950s. Dubai then a small pearl fishing and smuggling centre did not rate a British Government representative. The British community in what is now the UAE (including Dubai)was small. Well, quite small. He could get them all around his dining room table which, with extension, could seat

12.

Things have changed for the better except for the 150,000 plus migrant bachelor workers paid peanuts, housed in shacks, treated like slaves who have built all this Shopping Paradise on Earth. I doubt if they ever enjoy the retail therapy for which the stinking rich Emirate is famous.But a consoling thought; there is one acid test which I suspect all these miles and miles of world class emporia will fail. Try asking for

The Berwickshire.

No Farmer C, the image is not of Fishwick as visualised by the Scottish Borders Council Planning, Development and Vision Team. It is of Dubai. The World's tallest building, Burg al Dubai, as yet unfinished is visible above the mist. The 600 retail outlets lies somewhere in its shadow but much too small to register on this scale. Something in common with the Coop in Duns?

Labels: Dubai, Shopping, The Coop

  ¶ 2:12 PM (0) comments

  Cooped Up

Its a great relief to lose our dependence on the 14 mile round trip to Sir Morrisons and replace it with a 14 minute return journey to the Coop via a vegetable shop, two bakeries, a delicatessen, a hardware store, an electronic goods emporium, several convenience spots, three takeaways, a brilliant Chemist, two newsagents, a large post office with several watering holes and coffee places to break the tedium, both coming and going. The Coop is not that exhaustive but it is certainly not exhausting-a three person check out queue is unusual, most people seem to just have hand baskets to pay for and alright, there are not 27 different types of Brown Sauce, but you can generally find what you need, if not entirely what you want. Lots of organic stuff and a dearth of 'customer announcements' as are the bane of Sir M's.

And no caravanners.

I was extolling the virtues of Duns shopping to a fellow incomer, but with browner knees, having moved here from Embra 15 years ago.(So he is up to the 'D' in Dinger)
'Couldn't agree less' he said. 'Shops are rubbish. Thank goodness for on line shopping. Weekly order to Tescos, bring it around, help us unpack and it is all very reasonable'

'But what can't you get in Duns that you really need?' I enquired

'You mentioned it!

27 varieties of Brown Sauce'

( Sorry no image -I tried Flickr with the following result:

"We couldn't find any results matching Duns and Co-op.


Would you like to try a search for farm, switzerland, zurich, chicken or chickens instead?"

No thanks)

AS the Arabs would say : الكبيرة للتسوق في الجمعية التعاونيه*

* (rough translation) Great marketing in the Co-operative Society-Google translation)

Labels: Duns, Shopping, Sir Morrison's, The Coop

  ¶ 12:15 PM (6) comments