Al Yousuf Centre: Meet the Filipina women building a community of support at Abu Dhabi thrift store

The vendors and customers in the complex on Hamdan Street have forged friendships that go a long way towards supporting one another

Al Yousuf Centre is a three-storey thrift shop complex on Hamdan Street in Abu Dhabi. Photos by Larayb Abrar

The shopping complex is especially popular with Abu Dhabi's Filipino community.

Al Yousuf Centre has stall upon stall of second-hand and subsidised clothing.

Saleswoman Vhans, right, has worked at Al Yousuf Centre for six years and is a well-regarded member of the community.

Al Yousuf Centre is sought after for its cut-price faux-branded items.

Shop owner Asma has employed her nephew and her sister at her store to help them out financially.

Al Yousuf Centre is a close-knit community, with vendors and visitors sharing a sense of camaraderie.

The vendors and shoppers at Al Yousuf Centre value fashion, and believe looking good makes one feel good, too.

The cafeteria in the centre of the space serves exclusively Filipino food and coffee.

Pancit noodles at the cafeteria.

Gleaming with gold panelling and shiny mirror glass, Al Yousuf Centre on Hamdan Street is a three-storey thrift shop gem, and a particular favourite among Abu Dhabi's Filipino community. In addition to providing bargain deals on quality apparel, the building that houses the shopping complex is among the city's few close-knit public spaces made up primarily of women.

Welcoming ambience

The Filipinas working here – some for years, others for only a couple months – have cultivated a supportive network that extends to their fellow vendors as well as their customers.

A relatively quiet ground floor housing a barbershop and small electronics stores leads up to a burst of flashing neon fairy lights of red, green, yellow and purple on the first level. The store manager, strategically positioned less than half a metre from the incoming escalator, assumes the welcoming energy of a host at a small, albeit lively party, while upbeat music throbs from each of the surrounding shops.

Contrary to the courteous nonchalance of in-mall clothing outlets, the vendors and customers here share jokes with one another, offer each other fashion recommendations, give and seek advice, and socialise beyond the end-goal of making a transaction.

Vhans, the fun-loving and self-described "crazy" person of this group warmly greets each person passing by. With six years of experience under her belt, she has seen the highs and lows of Al Yousuf Centre, and feels right at home.

The cafeteria in the centre of the space serves exclusively Filipino food and coffee.

The main counter holds hotplates filled with pancit noodles, and a selection of fish and ­vegetable dishes. Vhans’s friends and colleagues file in and out, informally waving and high-fiving before sharing a laugh and stepping out to close a sale.

"If I were a candidate for president, I think I would win," Vhans says, jokingly, in relation to the number of friends she has. She believes the relationships formed within the shopping complex go beyond the confines of the stores, and says a visitor does not need to be a vendor or even a paying customer to feel welcome.

"Like me," a woman in the corner of the cafe exclaims. She smiles, looking up from her phone, and introduces herself as Andrea. Often mistaken as a vendor, Andrea knows the shopping centre and its regulars well.

“I’m unemployed, actually. I’ve been unemployed for the past three months,” she says. “It’s only that I’m friends with some people here and I visit to be around them. Otherwise I’d just be stuck at home by myself, and that’s too depressing. When I’m here, I don’t have to think about my problems.”

Female-focused economy

At neighbouring shops, two other women have found reprieve from unemployment as they work to maintain an income in the hopes of returning to their former life. Josephine, a store manager, worked in property for the past decade. She talks about how prosperous life in Abu Dhabi has been and that, if given the opportunity, she would spend the rest of her life here.

"This city gave me a good job, a good life and luxury. Especially before Covid-19, I was really earning very good money," she says.

She is a motherly figure, accommodating of her customers' needs and celebrating their successes. She speaks animatedly in Tagalog with a younger woman before proudly announcing: "Gina has just completed a fine art photography course."

Josephine is also Gina's landlady of two years, but regards her with the warmth of a close relative as she agrees to reserve a set of clothes that she can pay for later. There is a mutual understanding between the two women, devoid of the cold breakneck pace of business. Their interactions are empathetic of the other's needs.

Josephine is used to having repeat customers and often gives discounts liberally. She realises that this space is vital for Filipinas.

“I am happy to serve them. I have a lot of suppliers from Sharjah, Jebel Ali, some even from Korea. I try my best to give them good clothing, because that’s how you build connections, too. You begin the conversation with a bargain, but pretty soon, the customers are returning, you recognise them, you talk to them and build relationships.”

A typical workday means opening up shop at 9am and working until as late as midnight. The stores are particularly busy on Fridays. Before the pandemic, big crowds would file in and out of the building hunting for the best deals. "Over here, they get imported items, branded items, and for cheap. This is how you survive and play the game."

Support network

Elsewhere, saleswoman Fana speaks about her past experiences working as a caregiver. She is insightful in handling the tantrums of a child and ways to soothe their anxieties, and insists on the importance of showing them love. She brings the same tenderness to her work at the shopping centre as she helps the women around her feel their best, and recommends clothes that would suit each customer's unique sense of style.

“Clothing, fashion, it’s important. Because if you look good, you wear what you like, you feel good, too.”

Fana has made friends with her fellow saleswomen and marvels at the compassion each person regards the other with. “For starters, Filipinos are just very talkative and friendly people,” she says.

“There are people here who express themselves in so many ways, and we are accepting of it, we are open-minded and receptive to their journey and way of life. We keep things lighthearted, not too serious, and nobody judges you.”

The music across the various stores helps Fana feel all the more connected as "it makes everything more lively, more energetic". In her ideal life, she says she would listen to music all day and recommends I listen to Tagalog songs by Sarah Geronimo and Lea Salonga.

Similarly working to uplift those around her is shop owner Asma, who discusses how a store could earn up to Dh17,000 a month when times are good.

A long-term UAE resident and citizen, Asma met her Emirati husband 32 years ago in Abu Dhabi through a mutual friend. They would roam the waterways as a means of getting to know one another. Asma has employed both her nephew and sister at her shop, to help make them financially stable.

Her sister, she says, is shy sometimes. "She feels disheartened if she can't make a sale, or she is not able to make as many, but she tries, and I just push her to try harder."

The bonds among the women at Al Yousuf Centre run deep. Whether customer, vendor or a visitor looking for company, this building encompasses within it emotional and material support for women in need. As the capital continues to form and reshape its identity, it's comforting to know that an interconnected and empathetic community has found a space to thrive.