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Unit 5

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• It's a scene we all know well Shoppers walk

through street markets to choose their fruit and

vegetables (or the day, They give their choices

to the shopkeeper

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• He weighs them on old brass scales and

gives change from an old wooden drawer

All the time he is talking to friends and

other customers, and advertising his

goods loudly.

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• Further on. in the meat market and the

fish market* or in a small shop full of

tinned goods, you wilt see similar

scenes. They are part of Saudi Arabia's

tradition: a well-known way of life.

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• But today the scene has changed-m

Riyadh, In Jeddah*in the Eastern

Province- everywhere in the Kingdom, In

fact nothing shows the changes in Saudi

life more clearly than the appearance of

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• the huge supermarkets. In these,

customers step through the entrance

and immediately see thousands of

products under hundreds of

lights.

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• A big supermarket may have between

6.000 and 8,000 different items on its

shelves. There are European and American

vegetables* fruit from the Far East, meat

like beef, lamb and veal from Australia*

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New Zealand and Holland. Saudi dairy

products and bread, and freezers full of

food from all over the

world.

The workers in these supermarkets come

from all over the world. too.

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Filipino* Indian and Bangladeshi employees

help customers, put food on the shelves

and operate the

check-out counters. Saudi, American,

German and British managers all work

together

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• But are these huge stores only for the

expatriates in the Kingdom? Do Saudi s

really want to shop like this or would

they prefer the more traditional way of

shopping?

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• Can these huge supermarkets continue

to be successful?

• The owners think they can. They say

that food prices stay down because of

competition between the supermarkets.

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• Most Saudi families now live in the cities

and have cars- This makes supermarkets

with their large car parks and one-stop

shopping very convenient In addition.

supermarkets have become shopping

centres smaller,

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• specialized shops have been built around

their car parks. Nowdays* they also sell

more traditional* local foods as welt as

international products. All these things

attract the Saudi shopper The owners

believe that the supermarket is here to stay.

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