Dubai is the global center of luxury. Anywhere in the city and the emirate as a whole you will find something that is not found anywhere else. There is a large market in Nasser Square. This is exactly how Europeans imagine an eastern market - wide rows with many small shops, cheerful sellers and continuous movement and noise. But there is just one peculiarity - only gold is sold here.
Products made of precious metal of various types - from decorative keychains to the largest gold ring in the world! This place can be considered the pinnacle of people's love for gold. The market is so colorful that every day, in addition to thousands of buyers, dozens of excursions are held here. How many markets do you know where tourist excursions are held?
Gold jewelry for locals is always very massive
What is the market like?
Dubai Gold Souk welcomes tens of thousands of guests from all over the world every day. At the entrance to the site (at the top of the arch) it says “Dubai City of Gold” and this is the best description of what you are about to see. The market area is located in the business district of the city called Deira. The market is a symbolically designated area that borders the fish market and vegetable market.
Today there are more than 380 retail outlets here. These are mostly small salons and shops, the size of a simple boutique in a shopping center. New trade participants appear every season, but in small numbers - the cost of opening such a store is enormous even by the standards of the Emirates.
The range of products presented here covers everything that can be made from metal. The full range of jewelry (earrings, rings, bracelets, men's and women's options) is complemented by figurines of various sizes, clothing items, and souvenirs of all possible types. The world's largest gold ring is the size of a car tire.
By the way, in addition to gold, in some places you can also find products made of platinum and silver, but there are much fewer of them.
Locals love gold very much. The market is focused not only and not so much on tourists, but on the Arab population (the UAE is the world leader in terms of gold purchase volumes). It is the national flavor that attracts tourists here. You can look at gold for a long time, but at some point the surprise stops. But you can continuously look at the behavior of local buyers. You can always find a person casually walking from shop to shop, followed by a porter with a large tray with purchases on it. This is how young Arabs like to show their importance by hiring a special person to carry his things for him.
On weekends, the market is visited by wealthy sheikhs. Rich men come here with a harem and servants, so this “shopping” looks impressive and bewitching.
The history of the market is already quite long. In 1958, a certain Arab (they called him “Syrian”) came to the city from Damascus. He brought a huge batch of pearls, settled down on a bench at the local market and organized his trade in such a way that he quickly sold everything and was remembered by everyone. The Syrian purchased a new product - gold and gold jewelry. From that moment on, he steadily expanded his business, remaining “loyal” to metal. Other traders saw the profits the new business brought and also switched to working with metal. This is how the “Dubai City of Gold” was formed.
About prices and quality
Currently, a gram of 18-karat gold costs about 45-47 dollars (note that the figures are very approximate). The price per gram changes daily, or even several times a day. But it is the same for all stores. Every year these numbers are only growing. Initially, there is no price on the jewelry at all, or the price tag indicates a greatly inflated amount. And only skillful bargaining can reduce the cost to real indicators. Most often, the discount is 30-35%; larger discounts are offered much less frequently and very reluctantly. Buying several items at once increases the chances of getting the coveted gold at the lowest price. Do not use the services of escorts who will vying with each other to offer to take you to the best store. They do not work for thanks, so the cost of a purchase with the participation of such persons will be slightly higher than what it would have been without their participation.
Jewelry with precious stones or stones alone are also offered in abundance.
For example, the Pure Gold chain of stores, specializing in diamonds, is very good. They have both large stores and small kiosks (in almost every major shopping center in the UAE), in which the prices for products are very affordable.
The jewelry company LifeStyle will also please you with its price-design ratio. All products with diamonds or other precious stones must be accompanied by an appropriate quality certificate. However, it may even happen that the figures indicated in the certificate for the stones are significantly inflated. And not every jeweler is able to check this. But, frankly speaking, you should not expect any unsurpassed quality from stone products sold in the UAE. If the cost of the item does not exceed several thousand American money, then it is just a beautiful trinket, not of particular value for the world jewelry market. That is, it is not relevant to focus particularly on the purity and size of the stone in this case. It sparkles and sparkles - it’s great, but you can’t expect more from such jewelry; such purchases are more for the soul than for investment. If you have a great desire to invest in diamonds, then you need to go not to the UAE, but to countries that are global centers for the processing of precious stones.
When buying jewelry in the UAE, you need to remember and understand all this, then there will be no disappointments.
And finally, if the main location on vacation is not Dubai, but Sharjah, then jewelry can be bought at the local gold market - Al Yarmouk. The choice, of course, is more modest than in Dubai, but the prices are nicer. The same applies to Fujairah - here the gold market is located on Bank Street. Abu Dhabi's gold market is slightly smaller than Dubai's, but the selection is also impressive. It is located in the Madinat Zayed shopping center. The Emirate of Ajman has a small gold market, it is located near the Ajman Museum.
Happy shopping!
How to find out the real price of a product
Since we are talking about a place where a symbol of wealth and prosperity is sold, it is worth mentioning the pricing policy. It is very flexible and dynamic - a self-respecting Arab seller will change the price for each buyer a dozen times.
To have a rough guide and imagine how much metal can cost, we recommend visiting this page - https://dubaicityofgold.com/. The portal allows you to assess the current cost of products on the market in Dubai.
If you have already arrived at the market, then pay attention to the flashing and glowing signs that can be periodically found in stores - this is how sellers report the current price of metal.
The Dubai Gold Souk is the place to go with some preparation. Experienced tourists and buyers recommend the following algorithm for determining the approximate cost of a product:
- First of all, before going to the market, you need to know exactly the cost of 1 gram of pure metal. As mentioned, it can be displayed on the displays of large stores, and is also always available on the Internet.
- The next step is to multiply this cost by the weight of the product you like.
- Multiply the resulting amount by the number of carats. This will be the minimum amount for which you can buy the product.
- Sellers in most cases add another 10-15% as the profit of the outlet or a markup for the artistic value of the jewelry.
- Calculate approximately this cost and you can imagine the approximate costs. When purchasing, the seller will definitely double the price. Therefore, be sure to bargain - experience suggests that you can always discount at least 25%.
The price of gold and metal jewelry is very dynamic. Sometimes it can change several times during the day, so you should constantly keep the current values under control so as not to waste money.
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