DragonMart

On Saturday, DH and I went shopping at the DragonMart. Imagine if you will, all the importers consigned to a single location. Everyone who's anyone that buys a container filled with whatever cheap product they want to resell, given the opportunity to rent a stall in a mall with like minded merchants. The only thing I can liken it to is an alley market in most locations. But in Dubai, it's shiny and glossy and upscale.

When you get inside, there are dozens of sole proprietors specializing in one thing or the other from industrial tools to plastic toys. All levels of quality and organization. It's a fascinating study.

The house we've rented is new and does not have overhead lights in most locations. We determined that we needed at least two overhead light fixtures and a couple of lamps. After perusing the malls and IKEA, we made a trip out to the DragonMart.

Here, store after store has light fixtures wired to overhead cage ceilings. There is a plethora of choice from quality to price. As DH and I were purchasing fixtures that would be left to our absent landlord, we opted for cheapness. We were warned that at DragonMart, you get what you pay for. Truer words were never spoken.


Most of the canny Chinese merchants at the DragonMart have accurately identified their demographic. They know exactly what their average shopper desires. Overall, the middle easterners like ornate, overblown stuff. In the glamorous shopping malls and upscale furniture stores, there is also a quantity of stylistic modern things, but a majority of their furniture, fixtures and decorative gear is what most Americans would consider gaudy. The Chinese merchants are truly locked into the wants and needs of the consumer.

That said, we had to look at a LOT of light fixtures to find some that we could A) tolerate; and B) afford. We found two chandeliers and two bedside lamps. The lamp bases we found were sleek and interesting, but were topped with shades that had dangling dingle balls from them. No kidding. I finally pointed to the bases and told DH to imagine them with simpler shades. He agreed on the lamps and we stepped into another shop that sold stacks of lamp shades. We appropriated a simple one and held it up to the lamp, then began to haggle with the stall owner.

Now, what you've got to know about the DragonMart is that it is HUGE. And behind this very large mall is an equally large set of warehouses. Most of the merchants have all their inventory stored there. So you can pick something out, wait a while, and they will have your purchases ready for you. Envision a bunch of guys with dolleys running back and forth in the heat and you've pretty much identified the operation.

After leaving a cash deposit on the lamps, we were told to wait half an hour and then come back. When our merchant produced the lamps from his inventory, the same shades with the horrifying dangly bits, had been replaced with simple angular shades of the same color as the originals. He had seen us plan to replace them with ones from across the hall, and he made the swap in the warehouse. This after assuring us that the shades on the example were the shades we had to take. I was quite taken aback. First, he said it was all 'as is'. But once he made the sale and had our money, he realized we were going to spend money with the guy across the way, and he relented and made a substitution. Nice.

I feel like I owe someone an apology for sticking them with those lampshades, though.

--Sandee Wagner