No bargaining in Sharjah's fish market

The new Souq Al Jubail in Sharjah that boasts state-of-the-art facilities, with several firsts to its credit, also features strict shopping standards. There is no bargaining.

“It is fresh and clean, but no bargaining”, is what you will hear from fish vendors at the souq.

Inside the air-conditioned premises, one can find a wide variety of fish to suit any palette, but all with fixed prices unlike in the old market, where customers bargained for the best price and vendors also took to competing to sell their catch.

The new market housing a 2-storey souq includes about 91 shops, a fish market, separate meat shops as well as separate sections for vegetable and fruit shops. There is also a separate cleaning area, with advanced facilities.

Customers can also help themselves to free tea and snacks served by the management, while awaiting their purchase.

Manoharan V, a regular customer to the old market, said, “I have been going to the old market. Now, this new market has fixed prices on all fish and the price is the same across all the stalls, too, unlike in the old market. Also, there is a wide variety of fish.”

A representative of fish vendors said, “The availability of fish varies depending on the catch and the day. We have fixed price here. In the old market different people had different pricing and sometimes for fish worth Dh70 per kg, the vendor would start bargaining at Dh90. And some vendors would offer the same for Dh50, too. But now, that is not the case.”

However, some vendors complain. Hassan, who has been in this business for two decades, said, “It is a better place but customers are not getting all the variety of fish they used to get in the old market. Half of the stalls remain vacant in the fish. About 1,000 people who worked in the old market are waiting for permission to get stalls.”