I love shopping but since I’ve come to Cairo, I’ve had to learn how to do it properly in order to save money. I love retail therapy but when I have to really work at it, then its less like therapy (fun) and more like a chore. But after some time, its now easier!
Haggling
Haggling, its really tough to do when you don’t speak the language and its so foreign to me being from the States. In the US, when you go into a grocery store or department store, they’d look at you like you are crazy if you tried to talk them down on the price. But here in Egypt, its commonplace. Although I don’t speak Arabic, the shopkeepers knows what it means when I shake my head no or put the product back down or simply turn around and head out of their shop. Quickly, they start going down on their price…sometimes.
Grocery Stores (Hypermarkets)
There are quite a few grocery stores where the prices are set and displayed for everyone. Alfa Market and Metro are two that I shop at regularly. Alfa is slightly more expensive but they have a bigger selection than Metro. Alfa even has 3 floors with some clothes and shoes (yippee) and household goods like dishes, pans and appliances.
When I saw grocery stores had set prices, I did a happy dance. But that was short lived. First off, can we just talk about sticker shock? I’m used to spending 3 dollars for a gallon of milk and I come here to find that a litre of milk is 9 pounds. Just the sound of that is something that takes some getting use too. I understand the simple math of 1 US dollar is equivalent to 7 EGP’s but still it takes some time getting your mind use to seeing that.
Secondly, when I saw the prices of some of my favorite products, I was disappointed. How can they charge that?? Thats when I learned about import tax and custom duties. I’ve read that on food items that are imported they can charge anywhere from 1% to 50% of the value of the product. Alcoholic beverages they charge an import tax of anywhere between 600-3000%. Also clothing import taxes are quite high also to protect local manufacturers of clothing. But you should be fine bringing in clothes to vacation here.
Fruit Stands
At all possible, I try to go to the fruit stands for my produce. If I don’t go to Alfa or Metro, they aren’t going to miss my business but if I don’t go to the fruit stands, there is a chance this family won’t eat for the evening.
But I noticed you have to be choosy where you shop at fruit stands. I recently bought 1 kilo of strawberries, 7 huge navel oranges and a half kilo of bananas in Dokki for 15 pounds. They wanted to sell me the strawberries in Zamalek for 8 pounds and bananas for 12 pounds. This is ridiculously priced. Mind you, I talked the banana guy down to 10 pounds a kilo but when I went to Dokki, I didn’t need to talk the vendor down. His prices were fair already. I should also add that to buy this produce in the States at a grocery store, it would have been a lot more money. My family is slightly jealous.
Corner Stores (kiosks)
In the States, the corner shops are where you go to get a quick coffee or a loaf of bread. They are normally a lot more expensive than the grocery stores. This is not the case most of the times in Cairo.
You’d be surprise how much these little stores carry and how comparable if not cheaper they can be to the bigger stores. In the big stores, pasta sells for about 3 pounds a bag but in some bodegas downtown, I can buy pasta for 1 pound. Also check there for eggs, the big stores will sell a dozen of eggs for approximately 16 pounds but at my local corner store, I can buy local eggs for 0.90 EGP each. And they are just as good if not better.
It also makes me feel better to give my money to a locally owned shop whose family counts on the day’s sales. I have found that the majority of the small shop owners are very happy to see a foreigner come in their store.
Districts
I live in Zamalek and I am coming to find out, that everything is much more expensive on this little island. Seriously, its like they think that all foreigners that live here are rich. Maybe some are but I’m not!
Everything from the bodega’s to the fruit stands to the sidewalk vendors seem cheaper outside of Zamalek. So I find that it’s worth it to take a taxi into Downtown or Dokki to save some money and also to get off the island occasionally and see the real Cairo.
So I have found a new joy in shopping. Where and how to get the best prices and finding Egyptian substitutes for my old American favorites. 🙂
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