Barwa Village - Not very well thought out
By timebandit •
High rents and lack of customers worry Barwa Village store owners  |
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By Ross Jackson Inadequate access to the shopping complex by road, and poor connections by bus have brought very few customers, leaving stores struggling to even pay their employees’ salaries let alone the QR10,700 monthly rent for a single shutter. At least two stores are reported to have closed this Friday alone, following several others in recent weeks. One computer supplies store owner, attracted by the prospect of a bustling market with a diversity of stores, moved his retail outlet to Barwa Village to find an almost total absence of walk-in business. “How can we make a profit? If there is a customer, we have a sale,” said one salesman. “If they do something to bring customers, we can continue, otherwise, no.” He says he has already seen six neighbouring stores close their shutters permanently, and is unsure of his future prospects. It is easy to understand why so few customers come to the complex as it is not particularly close to either Wakrah or Doha, and the buses that stop in the Village only connect those two destinations. Those coming from Wakrah must drive an additional 4km to reach it as there is no junction or exit from the highway that is convenient for the Village. Customers wishing to return to Doha must first drive 6km towards Wakrah before being able to head home. Things may improve after a signal which has been sanctioned on the Wakrah road near the entrance to the complex is completed in the near future. A number of vendors have called for a bus station to be set up nearby to attract customers from across the country, as a replacement for the services which used to run into the city centre’s souq district. Another problem, some store operators say, is that there are no residential areas nearby for bachelors. Only families are allowed to live in Barwa Village, and as more than one salesman pointed out, they have cars, making them more likely to go to hypermarkets or other shopping malls. A clerk at a supermarket in Barwa Village said that he no longer fully stocks his shelves because when he did it was a “total loss.” He struggles to compete with major supermarkets that provide a wide selection of products in one store, but would have an advantage in a neighbourhood with a large bachelor population that does not have a lot of personal transport. Some stores have tried to use special promotions to attract customers, with one shoe store offering QR25 cash back for every QR100 spent. A computer supply and repair shop, which relies heavily on pre-existing clientele to remain in business, has had to put together computer packages at reduced prices in order to attract sales. Unfortunately, they have had no walk-in customers and so their special promotion has gone unnoticed. With monthly expenses of around QR25,000, their income of 3,000 is simply not sufficient. In a Monty Pythonesque twist, the most striking example of a missed opportunity at Barwa Village is a pet shop with no pets. Due to a prohibition on animals imposed by the shopping complex’s management, Pets and More can only sell pet supplies. “If Barwa allows pets, I think it will boom,” said John, a clerk at the store, as many customers are not surprisingly demanding pets from a pet store. If this rule were to change, Pets and More could be one of the few outlets in the complex turning a profit. Many stores are relying on other branches and outlets around Qatar to cover their losses, while some are having their rents paid out of the owner’s pocket, which in a few cases threatens the salaries of employees. A partner at Sharjah Moonway Trading said he basically has no customers at all, and covers his expenses through his wholesaling business. Clearly frustrated, he could not understand why rents were so high at a shopping complex where most of the storefronts were closed, and said that he will likely be taking his business elsewhere in the near future. High rents for successful businesses would make sense, he thought, whereas the opposite seems to have guaranteed failure. |
If you have the residents=customer, maybe the area would look more lively! if not, its not easy to attract customers even if there are good promotion and discounts.
It's a dry place
what happens when you have WAY too much money & WAY too little vision...story of this place so no big surprises there...
Few big fairs for very amazing promotions can attract crowd.... :)
Haven't been and after reading this, I have no plans to.
My post crossed with Xena, so that is one that has been there.
But has anyone reading this ever gone there? Was the village even necessary? Was it built to rehouse displaced businesses from areas under development that endured forced evictions, and this was their sweetener? If so, will those who have dropped their shutters in the village for the last time be in a financial position to relocate or could this be the end of their business for good.
Barwa was always going to be a destination retail village. Customers going there would have, and indeed still do need a reason to go there. But there is nothing that sets it apart. Nothing that makes a trip over there worth while. Or none that I am aware of, and that is why as yet I have not journeyed over there.
I did not post this to ridicule or criticise. I posted because I feel very sorry for the business men and women, who could well have sustained irreparable financial damage. But in the same paragraph I must add that I cannot think of a solution myself.
However a dramatic reduction in rent would probably benefit, along with marketing that explains to people like me why we should go there. Good reasons like a list of business located there and what they offer. And someone needs to come up with a good unique reason on top of that as well.
I fear that Barwa Village without prompt decisive action, could become a ghost retail park within the year.
Barwa Village for my trips to Splash and such - there is a Megamart opening there soon, so I think that people who travel to Doha to Megamart will probably frequent there, like I will. But yes, it is desolate - the Asian Traditional there hasn't anything available thats on the menu - which is frustrating...
In a Monty Pythonesque twist, the most striking example of a missed opportunity at Barwa Village is a pet shop with no pets. Due to a prohibition on animals imposed by the shopping complex’s management, Pets and More can only sell pet supplies. “If Barwa allows pets, I think it will boom,” said John, a clerk at the store, as many customers are not surprisingly demanding pets from a pet store. If this rule were to change, Pets and More could be one of the few outlets in the complex turning a profit. Read more: http://www.qatarliving.com/node/1981081#ixzz1T0KSX6ly
Thank you Barwa Village for having the forsight to not allow pets to be sold here - Well Done... and shame on you Pets and More - I know your owner and you should know better to make statements like that... but then again....He's a money grabbing sap...
The simple fact is that the demographics of the residents in Barwa Village means that only a certain type of shop will survive. They will prefer to shop at supermarkets offering better value and lower prices.
Lol at LP & Shaine
New connection road from new airport and signal in front of Barwa village may solve the present transport problem at Barwa. May be after that there may be more transport to Barwa and the business can flourish to a good extent.
No Infrastructure. It is located in a far away lonely place for the bachelors who will be the customers for Barwa. If someone driving from Doha should drive additional 12 Kms (6+6) to come back. A bachelor or family can find all their requirements either form Lulu Hyper or from FFC easily. There should be something extra to attract the customers to shop in Barwa Village.
The owners should reduce the rents to help the shopkeepers to run promotions and special offers to make everything cheaper at least by 5-10% than the prices of Lulu and other similar stores. It should be advertised in the medias which are commonly used by the mass.
Girls!
So how can this be fixed? Free rent won't work if there are no customers. What would attract you to go there?
One other thing to consider is that perhaps the "shop keepers" did not do their homework and expected a diferent type of tenant.
This is how it's going to be everywhere after the WC 2022!
"With monthly expenses of around QR25,000, their income of 3,000 is simply not sufficient." Only QR 3,000 income a month. That is not even enough for wages. So even if rent was free, they could not survive. Out of interest who has been to Barwa Village so far? I havn't. And the more shops that shut, the less likely I am to go there. It may already be too late.
Barwa Village was concieved and planned before the property crash in Dubai. Rents although seemingly reasonable at the time are now actually high.
It was also in my opinion, handed over too early, without all neccessary infrastructure in place.
They forgot to put a very special entrance tooo....Few big huge fountains, Big trees and few lawns to attract people to such remote area are a must..If they lower down the prices of rent obviously they will attract a lot of people like Ezdan village...