DOHA: With most schools set to reopen early next month, parents are rushing to stationary shops and hypermarkets to buy school supplies for their children. Shops are competing with each other to attract students and parents with offers. However, the customers are complaining of high prices.
Qatari national Bandar Al Hajri told Al Watan Arabic daily that prices of school-related items were high in Qatar and some products were available at half the prices in neighbouring countries.
Another citizen, Ali Al Kawari, said prices of school-related items were usually lower at other times and shops hiked their prices during the back-to-school period to cash in on high demand. Shops also try to clear their stock of poor quality stuff during this period, he added.
Khalid Al Kaabi, who was buying stationery, said the prices of stationery needed to be monitored by the Consumer Protection Department because they vary sharply from one shop to another.
Al Kawari said he was shopping in advance because in a few days demand would peak and the prices might go up further if there is a supply shortage.
An employee of leading stationery outlet Jarir Bookstore said that there was no possibility of a shortage of supply as they knew the demand in the market and kept enough supplies for a full year.
High prices are not the only issue parents have to grapple with. There is also the problem of plenty: the market is flooded with a large variety of products and children are attracted by colourful and attractively designed ones, most of which are either expensive or of poor quality.
The prices and quality of products depend on the country of origin. Colouring pens range in price from QR15 to QR450, with those from India the cheapest while German and Indonesian brands are the costliest. Prices of school bags range from QR65 to QR500.
There are bags carrying pictures of boxers, wrestlers, cartoon characters and cars. Making things a little easier for parents, some shops are selling sets of school items with a school bag, colouring pens, sharpeners, erasers and other items required by students.
There are also tablet computers that have different softwares for drawing, reading and writing. Some products, such as notebooks, have Qatari flags and maps on them to catch the attention of students and parents.
Most of school items in the local market are imported from China, Indonesia, India and Germany.
Some parents said that the school items did not last the whole year and they will have to come again to buy these items. They had to set aside a huge budget for the back-to-school purchases, they said.
A Qatari national, Turki Al Ganim, said shops were offering nothing new this year. He said that many customers were being misled by the prices as the cheap products were of poor quality.
THE PENINSULA
