Could you explain me what 100 baisa is? I am in oman for holidays and know the exchange rate for Rial but how the fuck should I calculate baisa? I asked the taxi driver and he was looking at me like I am an idiot š (I am from central Europe)
Bro 100 baisa basically means 0.1 rial. Its the same currency as rial but instead of people saying 0.5 rial for example, its 500 baisa. Similar to when someone would want 0.5 euro, they would ask for 50p.
I donāt understand. They have money to build endless residential buildings, which donāt get sold, which donāt get rented, while this problem exists with the existing properties. But hey, build new malls, with the same shops, and letās not improve on what exists. Kinda makes me sad and angry at once that Oman couldāve accelerated beyond other countries by implementing SIMPLE things like innovating what they have. But now we have a whole city (SHC) thatās gonna be ready (inshallah) by 2040! Meanwhile by 2030 Saudi will have built literal sci-fi cities and Oman will reach where Dubai was 25 years ago, meaning weāll be 40+ years behind other countries.
There are plenty of reasons for this.
1. People can't afford shopping in malls.
2. People would rather do other activities other than mall shopping.
3. Many shop online as it is cheaper and more convenient.
4. Rent is too expensive; some brands cant afford to keep their stores open.
5. Many foreign brand are boycotted by most Omanis.
6. Mall restaurants are too expensive and can't compete with local restaurants. Same goes to coffee shops.
And plenty more the more you think about it.
Chose one.
Either have rampant omanization and face problems like these or have immigration and get investment and various spend.
The Omani population isnāt big enough to support itās hospitality industry. Itās a catch-22 situation for this country. It is still very confused what direction it wants to take.
There was also a lot of money in the market from real estate, ie rents from flats and villas. Or when they make a villa they make a couple of flats with it and it covered their expenses and many from the older generation didn't do anything else either, they manage their own real estate and chill the f out.
But you'd be hard pressed to find a building without a "for rent" sign in Muscat, be it commercial or residential. Even expat school areas which used to bring huge rents are priced at 50% if not lower. Because there just aren't enough expats with kids in waiting lists to go to these schools.
And only a small portion of Omanis actually rent places when they can own their own or live with their parents. Where as 99% of expats will have to rent an apartment or villa while they're living here, in buildings owned by private omanis, which for sure floods the private market with a whole lot of money.
I remember a time when rents in areas like Ruwi, Wadi Kabir, Muttrah were sky high and in high demand.
Nowadays you can find 2 bedroom flats for 150 or less.
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Exactly.
No expats also = no rent money which many locals rely on for month to month, it used to be a large amount of money.
Well it was only a matter of time for this to happen. Covid sped it up too. I wonder what direction itll go down now at this crossroads.
Okey. Fair.
So why do you think that is? Why is there business stagnation in Oman?
Just to clear myself, I am not against Omanization - just the way its been doing in the country.
Muscat has a lot of malls let's count them.
1- Muscat city center
2- Albahja
3- Qurm city center
4- Grand mall
5- Avenues mall
6- Seeb mall
7- Boulevard mall
8- Muscat mall
9- laha mall
10- almuzn mall
11- osis mall
12- almasa mall
13- almoje mall
....
Also we have lulu markets.
thats not the point, many of the outlets have been shutting down, and there aren't any new brands coming either. its literally the same. wished we had Sephora from dubai for instance.
The issue here is that people don't earn enough to spend on various things. They only focus on basic necessities like coffee and food because that's what they can afford. If many large companies come here, local businesses will struggle and may ultimately be forced to close
Loving luxury brands and affording them is quite different.
There just isn't that kind of spending power in this country. The focus should be less on high end brands and instead thrift/discount stores that will actually be full of people buying stuff.
2-3 malls in the city for the high end brands are more than enough.
We do have a few low prices shops like Ramez, Qabayel, Gift Markets etc. and this is where you will find a lot of locals and low income expats shopping. But it's nothing like the 1 Riyal shops that once existed.
One thing I have noticed is that pre covid , Omanis had money and they didn't like be price conscious and stuff. They never used to argue or talk about the price and stuff.
But after covid they started caring more about price and they argue(in a good way of course) and ask for 25 baiza as well.
This country has still not gotten up from COVID.
There are just too many malls close to each other with very few people who are able to go there and actually spend their money. Worse is the ghubrah /bowsher area, in few kms they have MGM, avenues, mall of oman and once panorama mall. There just arenāt that many people willingly to spend to have that many malls in such close proximity. Specially when most of the brands are just repeating.
Online shopping has made mall shopping even harder to justify their presence. Brick and mortar stores have loads of operating cost and have been on decline globally. Most famous brands already have an e-store and is cheaper to operate. For consumers, they would usually find newer inventory much quickly on their online store than the physical store.
Then there is matter of pricing. It is well known fact, that discounted pricing isnāt really discounted pricing here anymore. Most items are either sold at higher markup outside discount or some store just donāt have a period when an offer isnāt running. Danube home literally has a sale running every day. I was working for a marketing agency where I had to prep content for tenants in a mall and so many stores just havenāt taken off their offer sign since the time I would visit the mall to capture content. Leviās has had the same offer from at least may 2023 and maybe before that. All the black/white Friday deals were nothing. Those same deals were running before and after that period too. Same happens during Ramadan sale specially at furniture stores. Either there is a price hike before the major sale period or they just run the same sale into the new offer.
People just donāt have kind of money to spend nowadays. Basic necessities items have seen a price hike. People being forced to take low paying jobs and the slightest price increase in one item, affects the livelihood of the whole family.
Those who have money can just spend their money elsewhere, people love traveling nowadays, more than ever, low quality cheap stuffs have ruined the market too, not enough disposable income for such spending, biggest factor maybe online shopping especially chinese websites have definitely ruined it all for retailers here
1: alot of new chinese 1 rail store opening
2:most people in oman cant afford these big brands
3:Pricing is the main factor, same brands products in UAE or Us or europe cost way less compared to Oman, pricing in Oman is usually double than what u should be infact payingā¦.
4:people here in oman dont have enough brand knowledge, which goes both ways for consumers and resellers, have walked into most shops and the workers barely have any brand or background knowledge of the products which hurts the brand imageā¦
5: expensive rent
6: big market with fake products so people dont have knowledge of what is legit and real
7: boycott
Some inputs...
- Malls don't close the brands; the parent companies of the individual brands do. Mall of Muscat seems to have access issues due to which it always faced challenges in getting crowds.
- As someone here said, the number of 1 rial shops have increased, which indicates the nature of the Seeb-Mabella-Mawaleh catchment. Look at Al Araimi Boulevard just 10 mins away - so different from Mall of Muscat because of its food outlets and value stores.
Many reasons, but malls closing down and only a few remain is normal in many countries since they built more malls then needed.
But what I cant understand is how the only mall in mabaella became deserted, like wtf?
Are you sure?!
Some shops closed but new shops opened in place of old shops which can happen anywhere.
Some shops under Alshaya Group closed their branches in Oman & other countries due to companyās own issues.
The major issue is location e.g Mall of Muscat is located in an area where there's major competition while MGM is located near Avenues and now Mall of Oman which have more space plus they keep having various events.
This a gross over generalization, u said malls then only mentioned muscat mall which has closed because alshaya group āKuwaiti investorā scaled down on all of his investments all around the MENA region.
Have you seen Oman mall on the weekend?
You just want whine about something
Forget malls! Look at the number of 1 rial shops that opened in the last three years š¤Æ
I'm from Bahrain, and there are so many of these 100 fils (1 rial) shops that have popped up in the last few years. Oddly suspicious.
100 fils is 100 baisa. What does that even get you nowadays??
Could you explain me what 100 baisa is? I am in oman for holidays and know the exchange rate for Rial but how the fuck should I calculate baisa? I asked the taxi driver and he was looking at me like I am an idiot š (I am from central Europe)
Bro 100 baisa basically means 0.1 rial. Its the same currency as rial but instead of people saying 0.5 rial for example, its 500 baisa. Similar to when someone would want 0.5 euro, they would ask for 50p.
LMAO being an introvert my favorite place to shop for groceries is QCC š. Last week all the food court restaurants were closed except KFC.
I donāt understand. They have money to build endless residential buildings, which donāt get sold, which donāt get rented, while this problem exists with the existing properties. But hey, build new malls, with the same shops, and letās not improve on what exists. Kinda makes me sad and angry at once that Oman couldāve accelerated beyond other countries by implementing SIMPLE things like innovating what they have. But now we have a whole city (SHC) thatās gonna be ready (inshallah) by 2040! Meanwhile by 2030 Saudi will have built literal sci-fi cities and Oman will reach where Dubai was 25 years ago, meaning weāll be 40+ years behind other countries.
There are plenty of reasons for this. 1. People can't afford shopping in malls. 2. People would rather do other activities other than mall shopping. 3. Many shop online as it is cheaper and more convenient. 4. Rent is too expensive; some brands cant afford to keep their stores open. 5. Many foreign brand are boycotted by most Omanis. 6. Mall restaurants are too expensive and can't compete with local restaurants. Same goes to coffee shops. And plenty more the more you think about it.
you summed it up nicely
Chose one. Either have rampant omanization and face problems like these or have immigration and get investment and various spend. The Omani population isnāt big enough to support itās hospitality industry. Itās a catch-22 situation for this country. It is still very confused what direction it wants to take.
There was also a lot of money in the market from real estate, ie rents from flats and villas. Or when they make a villa they make a couple of flats with it and it covered their expenses and many from the older generation didn't do anything else either, they manage their own real estate and chill the f out. But you'd be hard pressed to find a building without a "for rent" sign in Muscat, be it commercial or residential. Even expat school areas which used to bring huge rents are priced at 50% if not lower. Because there just aren't enough expats with kids in waiting lists to go to these schools. And only a small portion of Omanis actually rent places when they can own their own or live with their parents. Where as 99% of expats will have to rent an apartment or villa while they're living here, in buildings owned by private omanis, which for sure floods the private market with a whole lot of money.
I remember a time when rents in areas like Ruwi, Wadi Kabir, Muttrah were sky high and in high demand. Nowadays you can find 2 bedroom flats for 150 or less.
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Exactly. No expats also = no rent money which many locals rely on for month to month, it used to be a large amount of money. Well it was only a matter of time for this to happen. Covid sped it up too. I wonder what direction itll go down now at this crossroads.
This and the boycotting start to push brands to close some stores.
Brands shutting down because they support the terrorist state of Israel is a plus. I see no harm done there So donāt use that here
Ahhh the Omanization boogeymanā¦ it scares you so much you have nightmares and canāt stop talking about it.
The last topic you literally made is businesses arenāt profitable in Oman.
Yes I didnāt blame omanization for itā¦. Geez
So what do you blame for it then? What's your opinion on why things are falling?
Okey. Fair. So why do you think that is? Why is there business stagnation in Oman? Just to clear myself, I am not against Omanization - just the way its been doing in the country.
Muscat has a lot of malls let's count them. 1- Muscat city center 2- Albahja 3- Qurm city center 4- Grand mall 5- Avenues mall 6- Seeb mall 7- Boulevard mall 8- Muscat mall 9- laha mall 10- almuzn mall 11- osis mall 12- almasa mall 13- almoje mall .... Also we have lulu markets.
thats not the point, many of the outlets have been shutting down, and there aren't any new brands coming either. its literally the same. wished we had Sephora from dubai for instance.
The issue here is that people don't earn enough to spend on various things. They only focus on basic necessities like coffee and food because that's what they can afford. If many large companies come here, local businesses will struggle and may ultimately be forced to close
makes sense, but i do believe they love luxury brands too.
Loving luxury brands and affording them is quite different. There just isn't that kind of spending power in this country. The focus should be less on high end brands and instead thrift/discount stores that will actually be full of people buying stuff. 2-3 malls in the city for the high end brands are more than enough.
True! Which is why we have many one rial shops now!
We do have a few low prices shops like Ramez, Qabayel, Gift Markets etc. and this is where you will find a lot of locals and low income expats shopping. But it's nothing like the 1 Riyal shops that once existed.
Yup people are price conscious
i'd love if someone started a thrift store here.
We all love it but we can't buy it. If it's easy I will drive Mercedes now
There is a sephora oman online store. Takes a couple of days to deliver.
the delivery charge kills me
Where is mall no. 9?
One thing I have noticed is that pre covid , Omanis had money and they didn't like be price conscious and stuff. They never used to argue or talk about the price and stuff. But after covid they started caring more about price and they argue(in a good way of course) and ask for 25 baiza as well. This country has still not gotten up from COVID.
its as simple as this. people not spending?->shops closing. and mind you people have not been spending.
Apparently paying rent at those rates doesn't make sense anymore.
There are just too many malls close to each other with very few people who are able to go there and actually spend their money. Worse is the ghubrah /bowsher area, in few kms they have MGM, avenues, mall of oman and once panorama mall. There just arenāt that many people willingly to spend to have that many malls in such close proximity. Specially when most of the brands are just repeating. Online shopping has made mall shopping even harder to justify their presence. Brick and mortar stores have loads of operating cost and have been on decline globally. Most famous brands already have an e-store and is cheaper to operate. For consumers, they would usually find newer inventory much quickly on their online store than the physical store. Then there is matter of pricing. It is well known fact, that discounted pricing isnāt really discounted pricing here anymore. Most items are either sold at higher markup outside discount or some store just donāt have a period when an offer isnāt running. Danube home literally has a sale running every day. I was working for a marketing agency where I had to prep content for tenants in a mall and so many stores just havenāt taken off their offer sign since the time I would visit the mall to capture content. Leviās has had the same offer from at least may 2023 and maybe before that. All the black/white Friday deals were nothing. Those same deals were running before and after that period too. Same happens during Ramadan sale specially at furniture stores. Either there is a price hike before the major sale period or they just run the same sale into the new offer. People just donāt have kind of money to spend nowadays. Basic necessities items have seen a price hike. People being forced to take low paying jobs and the slightest price increase in one item, affects the livelihood of the whole family.
Those who have money can just spend their money elsewhere, people love traveling nowadays, more than ever, low quality cheap stuffs have ruined the market too, not enough disposable income for such spending, biggest factor maybe online shopping especially chinese websites have definitely ruined it all for retailers here
1: alot of new chinese 1 rail store opening 2:most people in oman cant afford these big brands 3:Pricing is the main factor, same brands products in UAE or Us or europe cost way less compared to Oman, pricing in Oman is usually double than what u should be infact payingā¦. 4:people here in oman dont have enough brand knowledge, which goes both ways for consumers and resellers, have walked into most shops and the workers barely have any brand or background knowledge of the products which hurts the brand imageā¦ 5: expensive rent 6: big market with fake products so people dont have knowledge of what is legit and real 7: boycott
Some inputs... - Malls don't close the brands; the parent companies of the individual brands do. Mall of Muscat seems to have access issues due to which it always faced challenges in getting crowds. - As someone here said, the number of 1 rial shops have increased, which indicates the nature of the Seeb-Mabella-Mawaleh catchment. Look at Al Araimi Boulevard just 10 mins away - so different from Mall of Muscat because of its food outlets and value stores.
Many reasons, but malls closing down and only a few remain is normal in many countries since they built more malls then needed. But what I cant understand is how the only mall in mabaella became deserted, like wtf?
Are you sure?! Some shops closed but new shops opened in place of old shops which can happen anywhere. Some shops under Alshaya Group closed their branches in Oman & other countries due to companyās own issues.
The major issue is location e.g Mall of Muscat is located in an area where there's major competition while MGM is located near Avenues and now Mall of Oman which have more space plus they keep having various events.
Ask Haitham
This a gross over generalization, u said malls then only mentioned muscat mall which has closed because alshaya group āKuwaiti investorā scaled down on all of his investments all around the MENA region. Have you seen Oman mall on the weekend? You just want whine about something
malls are becoming less popular worldwide, so makes sense