BALAD is essentially one big market made up of many specialized markets such as Souq Al-Nada, the textile market, Souq Al-Jamia, Souq Al-Alawi, and Qabil Street Souq, the most popular of them all.
Qabil Street stretches east to west in the heart of the city and is the most famous and important street in old Jeddah. Built by Al-Sharif Hussein ibn Ali during the early 20th century, it was later bought by the Al-Qabil family from the son, Ali Al-Sharif. The street was then roofed in corrugated metal, known as “altotowa”, constructed by a German company. Qabil Street was the first street in Jeddah to have electricity. The Al-Qabil family had imported a generator so each store was equipped with an electric lamp and fan. As a result, tradesmen competed to rent shops on the street, which once epitomized modernity and progress in downtown Jeddah.
In the past, Qabil Street was known to specialize in the fabric and material trade. Today, there are a variety of goods ranging from sewing needles to computers, and a visitor walking down Qabil Street today will find a variety of electronic goods, watches, wallets, luggage, perfumes, fabric, gold, as well as a variety of other wares.
The prices at Qabil Street are for the most part quite low compared to other shopping areas in Jeddah. A merchant selling electronic goods there told Arab News: “We can keep our prices low because of the low rent that we pay. And the location is good because we get a lot of customers.”
However, according to the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, many of the items sold in that area are counterfeit. Arab News found a counterfeit Rolex Submariner normally priced at SR14,000 from authorized dealers on sale for SR250 from a Qabil Street merchant. “Of course it’s not real,” the merchant said. “But it looks the same and works the same. People looking for a bargain come here to Qabil Street. Many of the things we sell are of good quality and are much cheaper than in other shopping areas like Tahlia Street.”
A walk down Qabil Street is stimulating to the five senses. The colors of the fabric stores and the colorful dresses worn by the female African street vendors provide an atmosphere that is aesthetically pleasing. The sounds of the hustle and bustle of the merchants calling to passers-by, trying to invite them in, ring out constantly. Merchants compete with their neighbors for a sale and shout prices back and forth across the walkways, much like the mating calls of male animals. Unlicensed street vendors come up to Qabil Street visitors and spray them with Armani or Hugo Boss perfumes, or even the more traditional Oud, attempting to woo them into buying their scents. Some merchants provide traditional Arabic food at small corner restaurants. A woman Arab News spoke with said: “The fabric available here is unlike any other I have found in Jeddah. There are special designs that come from small sewing mills all over the Middle-East, that are unavailable anywhere else. The material is soft and of excellent quality, and so inexpensive.”
Over the years, however, Qabil Street has begun to deteriorate. Many of the stores are in a state of disrepair. People step over electrical cabling stretching across the pavement in places, highlighted by a yellow sign that says ‘Danger’. Overflowing trash containers are the home of street cats. Building projects have long been abandoned, leaving the skeleton of what would have been a building.
Shoppers who once flocked to Jeddah’s premier shopping area are now going to the ritzy malls that have been opening up over the past five years all over Jeddah. Arab News contacted some shoppers on Tahlia Street to ask if they had heard of Qabil Street. Most had not. Wahiba Al-Jilani and her brother, Mohammed, told Arab News: “We remember going there with our parents when we were younger. They used to love the grandeur of Qabil Street in its heyday. But since they died, we haven’t been going there as much.
The stores are still the same, selling the same stuff. Last time we were there was three years ago. The street seems to attract people looking for bargains, and tourists only.”
“Qabil Street? Never heard of it,” said Khalid Radwan, a 20-year-old student. “I don’t like downtown Jeddah because of the parking problems. The place is very disorganized.”
By contrast, a shopper at Qabil Street said that she had not heard of Tahlia Street. “Everything I need is right here”, she told Arab News.
- Arab News Review 16 October 2003
