Saudi Arabia: Spending power - FT.com

Cash flows: shopaholics are one of the more visible signs of a boom

"Women in traditional black abayas huddle at an entrance to the Granada Centre in north Riyadh; not even torrential rain can deter them from the “shopping extravaganza” promised within.
It is shutters-up time on a midweek evening and the crowd is swelling, eager to sample the mall’s myriad consumer goods stores, including seven lingerie shops and 22 jewellery and watch outlets.
“If you go out after 8.30 now, you see these hordes,” marvels one long-time Saudi resident of a ritual repeated nightly across the country’s desert capital. “It’s amazing what’s happening. They buy everything.”"

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