Source:Xinhua Published: 2013-7-8 8:38:49
While Dubai's outdoor temperature hits 45 degrees Celsius, some boutiques in Dubai, however, are busy in selling luxurious fur coats to Russian tourists.
Most shops for clothes and fashion do good business by offering skirts, T-shirt and sandals from top brands, but the two Uzbek sales ladies Sabina and Nigora have only one product in their boutique: fur coats.
"People know us through hear-say and the internet," said Nigora who comes from the Uzbekistan capital Tashkent and has been living in Dubai for eight years. Her colleague Sabin, who is from Samarkand, another city in Uzbekistan, added that their products are half-price than those in Russia.
"Have a look at this red cloak which is made out of fox fur," she said, "its costs only 4,000 US dollars which you'll never find for such a low price in Moscow." There is no import tax and also no value-added tax in the Gulf Arab sheikhdom.
In 2012, 10 million tourists flocked to Dubai, among them are 170,000 Russian tourists, according to the official Dubai tourism body.
The owner of the shop, Yiannis Beinis, a Greek businessman, opened the shop 16 years ago and every year sales went up, recalled Nigora.
Most of the products are imported from factories in Europe, some even from China, she introduced.
The shop's furniture and sofas are cozy, but simple. A TV set in the corner is switched on and displays the Russian Musicbox channel. Asked why the shop is not decorated with paintings or porcelain vases whatsoever, Nigora replied that "Clients from Russia and former Soviet republics do not care about a shop's design. What they want are discounts, discounts, discounts."
Sabina told Xinhua that famous Russian pop stars Tina Kandelaki and Sergey Penkin already passed by to choose the latest fur fashion. Deputies from the Duma, the Russian parliament in Moscow, also visit the Festival Land Trading (FLT) here from time to time when they visit Dubai for business or leisure.
Besides clients from the Russian federation, Sabina said that there are also more and more local Arab women pass by to buy.
Many Emiratis and Saudi have vacation homes in Switzerland, France or Britain, Arab ladies also want to look chic when they go abroad for a vacation, they want to be equipped against low temperatures, both ladies said.
"There are over 200 boutiques for fur coats in Dubai," said Sabina, who added that competition is fierce in this segment. "In general the world comes to our shop."
The tourists from all over the world travelling to a desert country to buy fur coats while outside heat and humidity breaks all records -- a scenario which is only possible in Dubai.