Hello, It’s me, the DSF. Let Offers Take Over

The only time of the year when shopaholic is no longer an addiction disorder and when you're totally owned by the big seasonal offers.

A Little Boring Lesson

I still remember the old times, the really old times, when we used to buy things seasonally. I also still remember when I learned how to buy things seasonally. It was the end of January and nothing left in the local vegetable market but green-leave vegetables and some unseasonably offered items that were brought back from storage. Shiny and beautiful, there it is, sitting exclusively close to the grocer's reach untouchable by passing by shoppers. The lovely red out-of-season tomatoes that my mother was looking for.

For a 10 year old boy, money and value are not relevant to each other. I could notice how my mother was impressed by the tomatoes, and I thought that the value she needs is not measured by how much she is going to pay for them. After disputing the over price with the grocer, she decided not to take them. To my astonishment of her abandoning the beloved most wanted tomatoes, she told me that she'd just use her home-made sun-dried ones, and she'd rather not pay her money for over-priced tomatoes that she could easily afford in the season.

You think I learned my lesson? Not really. I did not.

Yet Another Lesson to Learn

With the reputation earned over the years as a shopping hub, when I first arrived to Dubai early of December some years ago, I went shopping unstoppably. I even invaded one of the shops that offered a 15% discount and spent almost half of my salary on garments. I thought that I would brag in front of every one that I bought precious things for 15% less. I still feel ridiculous when I recall the shopkeeper's disguised attempts to make me not be taken by the rush and understand that they're having the biggest seasonal sale soon. I did not know that the season he was trying to tell me about was the yearly waited Dubai Shopping Festival.

Seize the Season

Not that I would not shop during the year, if you are like me, a fanatic prospect of the season, it is absolutely about the time when your closet gets pale and dry. You start fishing for the February 14 nightdress to buy beforehand. You make space on the kitchen table for the promised kitchen machine. You plan a romantic dinner surprise gift to your significant other. You call furniture movers to come and get rid of your old grey living room sofa. Because for sure, you know the DSF is coming, so you mentally prepare yourself for what you are going to buy, for deals that you'll find, for offers that you are / aren't used to, and of course, for toping up your credit cards. DSF is no wonder one of the highly anticipated season in the region.

To get the ultimate value of the money you pay shopping, you’d rather observe such events that make more value of what you pay. Where else can you have almost all the shops, malls, brands, big fashion names, beauty salons, cosmetic retailers, movie theaters, automobile showrooms, hotels, even banks and credit cards in town celebrating the discounts, offers and deals? Where else can you be hunted by loads of ad SMSs and emails from consumer outlets that compete with each other to offer you more saving, vouchers, rewards and prizes? It is definitely the Dubai Shopping Festival where you are confident that your money worth more than what you think. Now that’s what I call a season.

Do You Feel the Pressure to Catch up with all offers?

DSF is exceptionally fascinating. In order not to get your mind literally blown, catch the best of it. In other words, do it smartly and wisely. It’s never been a better time to visit websites that help you find what you need and facilitate your shopping experience. Find the one that lists offers, deals, and discounts in very organized manner and that timely updates them so you don’t miss any.

Just the same way our grandparents used to snap up the season and saved the most out of it. You’ll do it, but in your modern Dubai way.