DOHA: Traders in Central Market have complained that they are losing customers to supermarkets and suffering a decline in business.
Mohammed Shahajahan, a trader in the Central Market in Abu Hamour, said his business had gone down in the past five years due to the opening of supermarkets in residential areas.
“Buyers are reluctant to come to the Central Markets which are often far from homes while supermarkets are almost everywhere offering same products,” he said.
He said even though the prices in traditional markets are lower than those in supermarkets, the difference is always minimal which prompts customers to visit supermarkets.
Shahajahan said he sold a 7kg box of tomatoes at QR10 while 1kg of the produce was sold at QR3 in a supermarket. Similarly, he sold a three-piece box of cabbages at QR6 while one cabbage was sold at QR3 in a supermarket.
Even fish prices at supermarkets are higher than those in traditional markets.
For example, 1kg sheri sold at QR10 in Central Market cost QR14.50 in a supermarket; hamour at QR35 compared to QR37.50 in a supermarket, 1kg of big prawns at QR60 in traditional markets cost QR62.50 in supermarkets and small prawns at QR40 cost QR42.50 in supermarkets.
Abdullatif, the owner of shop No. 43 in the fish market, said prices in the fish market were more wholesale than retail and supermarkets had their suppliers in the market.
However, the business is low compared to a few years back when there were fewer supermarkets, he said.
Mohammed Khalifa, a Qatari shopping in the Central Market’s vegetable and fruits market, said some key characteristics of traditional markets attract him and his family though there is a supermarket in his neighbourhood.
“There’s fun in traditional markets with vendors shouting at each other, shoppers haggling and gossiping, kids running around. It is an experience very different from that in a supermarket,” he said.
Another thing that attracts Khalifa to traditional markets is the possibility of a good bargain as the prices in supermarkets are fixed.
Other residents said they prefer supermarkets because Central Markets are slow in adapting to new technologies.
“In a supermarket, we can pay cash or use the credit card, but in traditional markets, we pay cash,” said Jassim Mohammed shopping in a supermarket.
He said he preferred supermarkets as they are cleaner and organised than traditional markets and they use ACs in summer which traditional markets do not have. The Peninsula
