Real or Knock Off ?

A few of my friends and I ventured into Karama - a older part of Dubai that is famous for "knock off " everything. As soon as Lori and I stepped out of the car, we were approached by a man that got very close and whispered....Rolex, Chanel, Gucci, Dior....we have it all.
Wow - like wolves on fresh meat. We had not even closed our doors yet !

We ignored him and met up with the other members of the purse shopping expedition.

One of the women I was with knows this section of the city fairly well and can bargain with the best of them.
First stop, a purse shop...inside on the first floor there are hundreds, okay, maybe thousands of hand bags, scarfs, wallets, etc. They even had a whole display of Uggs? ! Uggs in Dubai....doesn't seem practical but what does in this country.

One of the store keepers said, "first floor, this is the cheaper stuff "...even though there were Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Kate Spade, Chanel, Mark Smith, Gucci, etc., hanging all over..."would you like to see the good stuff ?" Does that mean real ? Sure why not we all said . The store owner took us to the back of his store to an old white door with a lock on it, unlocked it  and said, "watch your step at the top - small hole". The stairs were narrow, dirty, scary and there was a huge hole at the top on the landing, not a small hole as previously advised. One false step and you would be quickly back on the first floor. The one aisle we stood in was very narrow and crammed with goods. Beautiful purses, wallets and scarfs surrounded us.

Please, please - no one light a match, I thought to myself.

Is anyone else claustrophobic? Alright, it is time for me to go back downstairs.

Once back down stairs, the store owner asked, "would you like to go to my secret location ?" " I will drive you." Were we crazy?  Go for a drive to a secret location?  Okay, why not !? We all climbed in his metallic blue Honda and sped away to the "secret location". We ended up in an old apartment building blocks away from the store, it was run down and really not fit for living in. The apartment was filled with name brand purses, wallets, scarfs, shoes, jewelry. We kept asking - "real or fake" and "is this plastic or leather?"  Most of the purses smelled like leather but you never know. Once we all got inside the apartment, the dirty door was bolted behind us. I have to admit - that made me just a little nervous. Are they keeping us in or others out ?

The store owners brought over the merchandise we liked from the original location. Let the bartering begin ! When we were all done - I was very happy with the cute Prada bag and red Louis Vuitton wallet.

Real or fake - I don't really care ! Good price, very interesting experience and out with friends.

On the way to our car, we again were approached by multiple men, whispering to us about their goods. Maybe we will come back and visit their stores in the future, but not today.

I used to shop for a purse in Target but this was as different a purse shopping adventure as I had ever experienced.

Purse shopping fun in Karama. Yippee !!