Save Abu Dhabi's quirky corner shops



The corner shop near my apartment is so small only about three people fit inside. Usually I manage to knock something off the counter or one of the shelves with my handbag. Yet it's cheap and stocks an astonishing variety of drinks and snacks, considering its modest square footage.

I can't help but wonder what is going to become of it, considering the recent news that the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority is requiring the city's 1,300 such corner shops to standardise and modernise.

I love these corner stores, where you can buy toilet roll, canned meat, toy guns, key chains, combs and delicious fruit. I never thought I would say this, but I'd take these tightly packed shops over 7 Eleven any day. Even the inviting new Adnoc stations, with their functioning deep freezers and premium ice creams, their efficient tills over calculators and wooden drawers full of dirhams, cannot sway me.

It boggled my mind when I first moved here, how people would pull up outside these shops, honk and then idle in their cars while the staff ran out to take their "order". I've never been able to get used to someone following me around with one of those little green, yellow or red plastic bags. I was even more amazed when I realised I could phone up from home and order anything I wanted and get it delivered - provided I could get the person on the other end of the line to understand.

Whenever I called the shop near my first apartment, they would bring a little assortment of what they thought I might have been asking for. As a hilarious Canadian teacher I knew put it, "why yes I will have some chips". I always found "milk" the most challenging order, and funnily enough, the one I made most often. On many occasions I found myself in an absurd struggle to pronounce an impossible word. Twice, they turned up with a padlock.

I didn't want to leave that shop behind, I liked everything about it so much. And so, on my first visit to the shop by my new apartment, I knew everything would be OK when the proprietor handed me a sticker bearing a mobile number and said "deliver".

The days of waiting to buy Etisalat credit, staring at outrageous sweets and jostling for space with other customers, while the proprietor finishes his hawala call to goodness-knows-where, are numbered. Why progress, why? Like the white-and-gold (with a touch of green) taxis before them, in the coming years such shops will slowly disappear and be replaced with others that are shiny and new. I fear for the proprietors, who may not be able to afford the upgrades, and lament the loss of one of the city's great curiosities.

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Scoreline:

Everton 4

Richarlison 13'), Sigurdsson 28', ​​​​​​​Digne 56', Walcott 64'

Manchester United 0

Man of the match: Gylfi Sigurdsson (Everton)

Tips to keep your car cool
  • Place a sun reflector in your windshield when not driving
  • Park in shaded or covered areas
  • Add tint to windows
  • Wrap your car to change the exterior colour
  • Pick light interiors - choose colours such as beige and cream for seats and dashboard furniture
  • Avoid leather interiors as these absorb more heat
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE%20Warriors%2033%20Results
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Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
  • Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
  • Rational thinking: Breathe and avoid emotional decision-making; let logic and planning guide your actions.
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Family reunited

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was born and raised in Tehran and studied English literature before working as a translator in the relief effort for the Japanese International Co-operation Agency in 2003.

She moved to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies before moving to the World Health Organisation as a communications officer.

She came to the UK in 2007 after securing a scholarship at London Metropolitan University to study a master's in communication management and met her future husband through mutual friends a month later.

The couple were married in August 2009 in Winchester and their daughter was born in June 2014.

She was held in her native country a year later.