The Summer Entertainment City (SEC) not only provides several weeks of fun-filled activities for families but has also added international flavour to its retail section with the presence of shops from as many as 10 countries.

The concept of the ‘Summer Souq’ was the result of feedback from last year’s visitors, particularly ladies who wanted some shopping activities while their children are having fun at the SEC, QSports founder and board member Adil Ahmed told Gulf Times.
“We wanted to create something specifically for the ladies, so we brought about 100 international exhibitors from Iran, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, China, Indonesia, and South Korea, among other countries to the SEC. “We try to bring in something that the normal everyday lady can related to, so the ‘Summer Souq’ is actually more geared towards the consumer side,” Ahmed explained. He pointed out that the ‘Summer Souq’ will host the international exhibitors for the next two and a half months.


QSports founder and board member Adil Ahmed.




Oudh incense are also available at the Summer Entertainment City. 


Even spices are offered at the SEC.



A wide variety of ladies apparel. PICTURES: Ram Chand.

“It’s the first time that international exhibitors are participating in any event for this duration. Normally, you have consumer exhibitions that last for about a week or 10 days, or at the most, 12 days but this is the first time that they’re staying for two and a half months,” he explained.
According to Ahmed, who is also SEC project director, about 35 more retailers will be added to the ‘Summer Souq’ in the next two weeks to give the retail section a further boost. “Most of the retailers will stay for about 30 days then, midway, we will change the retail mix. Some will be flying out and then more new businesses will be coming in to give the market additional flavours,” he said.
Ahmed noted that despite the challenges the country had weathered last year, the SEC still attracted as many as 165,000 visitors to the event.
“We are trying to give our visitors a different experience, and we hope that the international exhibitors are happy here but so far in the past seven days, we’ve generated about 22,000 to 23,000 visitors already, and we hope to keep the same momentum of about an average of 2,300 to 3,000 visitors per day,” he said.
“Bringing in international exhibitors is good for the economy as well because it promotes the Qatari market further out, and we hope that this concept works out well as we gear up for expansion next year where we may put the retailers in clusters around the SEC,” Ahmed added.

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