Shahd Alhamdan
Saudi Gazette
MANAMA — Small businesses for young Bahrainis, local shops in traditional markets, as well as special activities for families and children in malls, are some of the features of the second edition of Bahrain Shopping Festival ‘Shop Bahrain’.
The shopping festival, which started on Dec. 24 and ends on Jan. 23, succeeded in grabbing the attention of visitors through providing several special activities such as, Oud music in Moda mall, children cinema, art workshops, reverse bungee jumps, rock climbing, bitty balloons, and more.
‘The Family Fair’, which was held during the New Year’s eve weekend at Prince Khalifa bin Salman Park was one of the events that many Saudis and Kuwaitis attended. The fair included fireworks as well as concert by Bahraini singer Hind.
‘VIVA Shop & Skate’ is not only a big skate for kids to enjoy playing, but also an area where small business for young Bahrainis to showcase their products. Some of these small shops sell cupcakes, ice cream, and T-shirts that have Bahraini jingles on them.
Shop Bahrain Project Director Nawaf Al Koheji said some of the family businesses as well as private companies are contributing something in the festival and local shops in ‘Bab AlBahrain’ and ‘Souk AlMuharaq’ are part of the event. People who buy from those shops can be part of the pull awards and prizes during the festival. Tourists also can enjoy visiting local bazaars.
He explained that Saudis considers being in the first rank of Bahrain visitors, then Kuwait and Qatar since there are around eight million tourists from the Gulf area every year. By the end of the first week of the festival, the figures showed out that ‘Shop Bahrain’ is attracting double the number of visitors compared to last year’s festival.
“We are proud that Bahrain was chosen to be the capital of Gulf tourism in 2016,” he added.
Al Koheji further said people attending the festival and buying stuff from certain retail shops can collect points for special deals.
Tourists during this month will enjoy the discounts in several stores that reached more than 40 percent in some of the products.
There are more than 20,000 instant prizes awaiting the festival visitors, so they have chances of winning by shopping at any of our participating retail outlets and malls.
Gulf Air and VIVA Telecom company and American Express are some of the strategic partners of the festival organizer ‘Tamkeen’.
Shoppers and visitors can find out the latest information about Shop Bahrain through the festival’s website www.shopbahrain.com or by following any of its social media channels on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube @shopbahrain. — SG
