By Joseph George

Bachelors have been barred from entering a newly- inaugurated shopping centre in Dubai for fear that they would misuse the massive discounts on offer.

Union Co-operative opened a new branch at the Barsha Mall with an attractive promotion offering discounts of up to 50 per cent on select items such as fruits, vegetables and household goods.

The 14-day promotion that started on July 20 witnessed massive response with crowds coming in from as far as Sharjah, Ajman and Ras Al Khaimah, apart from Dubai.

Although all shoppers were allowed into the hypermarket on the first day, the management soon decided to ban single men.

According to a customer care executive this website spoke to, many of the promotions were being misused by small cafeteria and grocery store owners.

“We found out that many of them were buying our products on offer only to resell them in at their stores at the original price. So we have decided to turn away single men from entering the hypermarket until the promotion ends,” he said.

Only men accompanied by a woman are being allowed into the store.

The promotion, according to him has been a huge success due to the massive discounts.

A three-kilo Arial pack, priced at Dh33.50 is being sold at Dh19.95. Similarly, a 4-litre Comfort fabric softener priced at Dh23.90 is being sold at Dh12.95. Another hot seller is Harpic liquid. A (3*750ml) pack of Harpic liquid originally priced at Dh36.90 is being sold at Dh19.95.

Several products on offer disappeared from the shelves within a few hours on the first day and according to a salesperson at the hypermarket, a similar trend is evident on most days. “Every day we replenish the stock, but some items disappear within minutes. There are so many people in the store that there is hardly any place to walk around with trolleys,” he said.

Among those products that are in great demand are tomatoes and onions. With a price tag of just Dh1 per kilogram, shoppers were seen grabbing the plastic bags as soon as fresh baskets were brought in.

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