Dubai: The countdown to the first day of school is on and for many UAE parents, that also means rushing to shopping malls to stock up on supplies.Uniforms, textbooks, stationery, lunch boxes, shoes, the list seems endless, and the receipts can stack up fast. But instead of leaving shopping to the last minute, some families are taking a smarter approach.
From sourcing uniforms in other emirates to buying supplies abroad, hunting down summer sale deals, and even swapping second-hand books, parents are finding creative ways to save without sacrificing quality.Shopping across emirates for cheaper uniforms
Sharrah Khilawala, a mother of two aged nine and five, says buying new school uniforms in Dubai can be costly, but she has found a workaround.“For school uniforms, I go to a supplier in Sharjah because it’s much cheaper than the uniform supplier in Dubai, which is by the school. It’s half the price – if I go to the school supplier, it’s almost Dh100 per clothing item, but the one in Sharjah is Dh50 per item. There are similar suppliers in Ras Al Khaimah and Ajman. The quality is almost the same. It’s much more affordable, considering children grow so fast and you have to buy new uniforms almost every year.”
