Shopping

Books, Music & DVDs

You’ll find both international bookstores and good local stores in Abu Dhabi. All malls feature at least one bookstore, and if you cannot find a publication, the larger stores let you place an order or enquire whether it is available in another branch. For second-hand books, try St Andrew’s Thrift Centre or look out for car boot and yard sales advertised on supermarket noticeboards and in online classifieds. A small selection of books, DVDs and games sell in supermarkets and hypermarkets. You can also buy books by Explorer in most bookstores or online at the Explorer e-shop.

Unless you have particularly obscure taste, you should find a satisfying collection of music in the city’s record stores. Music and DVDs are generally more expensive than they are in other countries, but the advantage of Abu Dhabi’s multicultural society is that you can open yourself up to new genres – Arabic dance music, for example, is very popular. Everything has to go through the censor, so any music or DVDs deemed offensive will not be sold here, unless it can be edited to make it more acceptable. Retailers will order titles that are on the approved list for the UAE. Bollywood films are extremely popular here and available in most shops.

Online shopping is an alternative if you can’t find an item and you’ll find more variety on sites like Amazon UK or US, which deliver to the UAE. Delivery rates are cheaper from the UK site than the US site, and beware that your package may be inspected by UAE customs. so be extra careful about the material you order. The UAE iTunes store sells a limited selection of music, TV shows, movies and eBooks, but you can log in to the UK or US sites for the extensive library – you’ll need a UK or US registered credit card for these.

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