Al Ghuwair Market, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

This place has been practically unchanged for over 3 decades. Initially built somewhere around the late '80s, it was a series of shops under a few Arabic-style buildings. Today, Al Ghuwair boasts impressive properties from high rises to hospitals littered in the area.

The bustling feel still remains the same. Every corner of the area has shops, saloons, groceries, even jewelry. Back in the day, when I was a kid, Ghuwair was very different.

It is like a core memory to me, every school season partnering up with my cousins who'd come all the way from Dubai just to shop here. To date, Al Ghuwair still remains the one place that people trust to find the best product for the cheapest price. Usually, it's clothes.

It still feels huge. Although the main marketplace that everyone knows as the "Ghuwair market" is very small, it feels neverending. It is a simple square-shaped area divided into 4 parts with an intersecting path in the middle. Each and every doorstep has an overflowing amount of goods to be sold.

The most popular of them is Al Zubair Textiles. I used to call the owner "Chacha", which means uncle in our language. He was an Afghan textile businessman who started here in this market and then grew up to opening a 2-floor textile showroom right at the outskirts of the open market. Today, he has a nationwide business.

These are the "one dirham shops". I could see these shops from the window of our apartment on the 12th floor. They were, and still are, called the "one dirham shops" because everything they sold was for a dirham. It was a dream come true every time we went here. Pokemon cards, balls, stationery, sticker tattoos, you name it, they had it for a dirham.

That is like 27 cents for anything you buy! My cousin used to come here exclusively to buy sticker books and pokemon cards for a dirham. He resold them at his school in Dubai for a huge markup. There was nowhere else to find these things for so cheap. Needless to say, the kid has grown up to be a successful businessman today all thanks to Al Ghuwair.

There is an endless supply of anything fabric here. From long lines of unstitched fabric to Turkish hats. If there is a very specific type of fabric you have in mind, chances are Ghuwair has it. From velvet to fully stitched and decked out "Abayas". I remember Abayas with crystals on them started popping up here before they took off in the entire country.

Prior to this visit, I was here last almost 2 decades back. As soon as you enter from the northern side of the market, you are welcomed by a gush of fresh popcorn smell. Immediately after that, you hear the ringing sound of a man hitting his metal spoon on the rim of his candy cloud machine.

Believe it or not, the guy is still here. Just has a lot more white hair and wrinkles. Looks like business is still good!

Whether it be Eid, New Year, or birthdays, this was the place to come do shopping. Come public holidays, this place is packed! You'd have difficulty breathing with the insane amount of people racking up to find the best deals. It was almost impossible to get into a shop without fighting the crowd.

Shoes, bags, toys, plushies, cloth, school uniforms, the Ghuwair market has it all. I went around looking for "one to one". It was the go-to of almost every parent who wanted to buy school uniforms for cheap. Walking around the market made me extremely nostalgic.

Within each square there are alleyways. Really tiny alleyways that lead you outside the market into the streets. These alleyways also have shops in them. Curtains, bags, luggage, winter clothes, floor mats, carpets, whatever, Ghuwair has it all.
It also has had the same mosque for so many years. Almost nothing has been changed except a few upgrades to the paint and the doors.

At each corner, there are these empty places. I never really understood what role they played. All I could think of is that before this place turned into a market, these empty spots were like gardens for the people that lived here.

For us, this was the football field. Every weekend we met up here to have some good old 5 on 5 football matches. Played barefoot on the hot concrete and enjoyed every minute of it. Now I see they added trees. Then again, kids have a lot of places to play now.

Oh, I remember. The cafeterias here used these empty places as their "outdoor seating".

It is easy to forget how beautiful and old these buildings are when you are caught up with the intense marketplace. These buildings have been here for decades now and the marketplace a little lesser. Nostalgia hit me like a truck when I revisited the market and all the memories came pouring in. Somehow, I am glad the market hasn't changed even if everything around it has. There is so much history in this place, and not to forget, things to buy!

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