- 'Ramadan Rush' sees Middle Easterners fly in to end fasting with indulgence
- They team Eid celebrations with spending outrageous amounts of cash
- Last year credit card processor Worldpay handled £73m from the shoppers
- Nightly supercar parades rev up outside Harrods and Harvey Nichols
The
Middle Eastern owner of the gleaming white Rolls-Royce doesn’t even
glance at the double yellow lines as he parks over them outside the
famous green-and-gold frontage of Harrods in London.
He
is on his way to the store’s exclusive French cafe Ladurée, where
outdoor tables are packed full of stylish men speaking Arabic and
smoking, while glamorous women stand chatting in niqabs or brightly
coloured scarves with jeans and stack-heeled designer trainers.
And
as a parking warden fixes a £60 ticket to the perfectly polished
windscreen of his car — a Phantom Drophead Coupé with a Saudi Arabian
number plate — he doesn’t even flinch, simply continuing the animated
chatter with friends.
Ramadan Rush: Jordanians (from left) Zizi, Shahed, Janat and Fatima hit Knightsbridge in London for a spree
Striking gold: A heavily modified
Range Rover that looks like a bar of bullion, worth £150,000. With
gold-rimmed, carbon-black alloy wheels and wrap-around tinted windows,
this golden bullet is powered by a 5.0 litre 500bhp V8 engine and will
accelerate from rest to 62mph in just 5.4 second, with a top speed of
around 140mph
After all, the car is worth £350,000, making the fine small change for a man of his means.
Besides, these wealthy men and women are here in the UK with one main objective — to spend outrageous amounts of cash.
It
is late Thursday afternoon in the first week after Ramadan — the
month-long Muslim fasting period that emphasises self-control and
moderation.
When
it ended last month, it heralded not just the traditional fast-breaking
Eid celebrations, but also the now infamous ‘Ramadan Rush’, which sees
thousands of super-rich Middle Easterners flying in from countries such
as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar.
They have one intention: to see off their month of fasting with major indulgence.
That
means retail therapy on an eye-watering scale — and experts expect the
post‑Ramadan splurge to last throughout August, not just in London, but
all over Britain. The French ban on burqas, worn by women from some of
the Middle East’s richest families, means the number of post-Ramadan
visitors to the UK is even higher.
Last
August, credit card processing giant Worldpay dealt with more than
£73.2 million from Middle Eastern shoppers — a figure estimated to rise
by 25 per cent.
Exuberant spending was certainly on display when the Mail visited London’s most expensive shopping destinations.
In
the jewellery and watch departments at Selfridges on Oxford Street, we
watched as one Middle Eastern man tried on an £18,000 limited-edition
Hublot watch, while others clustered around £23,000 diamond-studded
Piaget timepieces.
In
Chopard’s discreet private room, reserved for the wealthiest customers,
a group of three burqa-wearing ladies — exquisite eye make-up and
pristinely manicured nails peeping through the black fabric — examined
necklaces that retail at upwards of £6,000.
Big spenders: These shoppers load up on designer labels while shopping in the capital today
By
far the most coveted items are designer handbags and shoes, which are
plucked from the shelves like pick-and-mix. Women shopping in groups of
twos or threes, perhaps with children in tow, will snap up armfuls of
luxury accessories worth anything from £1,000 to £87,000.
When
we visited Harrods, a robed and veiled woman was handing over her
credit card to pay for two classic Chanel 2.2 handbags, costing £3,090
each, while young girls wearing headscarves picked up £2,300
denim-studded shoulder bags and pink quilted clutch bags — a bargain at
£1,690.
It was the same story at all the luxury accessories departments.
In
Dolce & Gabbana, twenty-something Middle Eastern shoppers tried
£1,050 limited-edition handbags against their robes, one smiling woman
instantly snapping up two. There was also lots of interest in Yves St
Laurent’s latest wheeze: tiny handbags in an array of bright candy
colours that are just begging to be collected, at a comparatively modest
£1,300.
‘Customers
often buy more than one colour because they can’t choose,’ the
assistant reveals, as one young shopper, with the blue version already
hanging over her black abaya cloak, handed over her card to buy the same
bag in pink.
Gucci,
too, is in on the act, with a £510 evening bag in a choice of bronze,
gold, black and red. ‘They’ll buy all four at once,’ the assistant
shrugs. ‘It happens all the time.’
Another
Harrods worker told us: ‘I’ve seen a 14-year-old buying a crocodile bag
for her mother. She paid the £12,000 price tag in cash.’
‘Some
of our customers came across literally the day after Ramadan ended,’
says Adhum Carter, a partner at Pocketlife, a concierge firm for high
net-worth individuals, which has bases in Dubai, London and Switzerland.
‘They
love to stay at top hotels like the Dorchester and Brown’s, and many
keep family flats here. They do a lot of shopping themselves, but they
also like to use the services of personal shoppers.
‘Sometimes they might ring up and just say: “I’ve got a budget of £20,000, you know my taste, just get some stuff.”’
Not
surprisingly, retailers fall over themselves to accommodate these
lucrative customers in exquisite comfort. At Bond Street jeweller
Boodles, staff are given training in cultural nuances, and a private
area allows women to try on jewels without their faces being seen.
Among
the Middle Eastern customers’ favourite lines is the Wonderland
collection, costing from £30,000 to £300,000, specifically designed with
their market in mind. More elaborate than other ranges in the Boodles
collection, it features brightly coloured precious stones.
Light touch: Don’t let the subdued
shade of this Bugatti Veyron fool you - the sculpted £1 million hypercar
is powered by an 8-litre W16 engine, producing 1,000bhp. Put your foot
down and it’ll hit 230mph in 30 seconds
High roller: With a £6,000 gold-plated
Spirit of Ecstasy ‘Flying Lady’ at its prow, this bespoke £225,000
Rolls-Royce Wraith is spectacularly finished in Madeira Red and English
White. It makes 0-62mph in 4.2 seconds
‘Where
British shoppers might buy just one piece, the Middle Eastern customer
might buy a whole suite,’ explains Boodles managing director Michael
Wainwright, who might be forgiven for having something of a spring in
his step.
Bouncing
along the road behind Harrods, two twentysomething Saudi Arabian girls
are thrilled with their handbags, purchased moments before but already
slung over their shoulders.
But
Lama Obi’s £1,840 caramel leather Prada tote and her friend Deema
Alakeel’s blue Balenciaga Padlock mini, £875, are just the start of
their month-long shopping trip, they tell us with a giggle. ‘I love
London — the weather, the restaurants, everything,’ smiles Lama.
For
Lama Al Qheliwi, 21, also from Saudi Arabia, it is choice that gives
our shops the edge: ‘London is much better than Paris or Milan.
Yesterday, I stocked up on Acqua Di Parma perfume [£63] and Monica
Vinader jewellery, which aren’t available at home. Altogether, I’ll
probably spend £10,000 to £20,000 shopping.’
Another
group of seven elegantly robed women dangle an impressive collection of
designer handbags — including an Yves St Laurent Betty (£1,385), a
Chanel Boy (£2,850) and a Bottega Veneta shoulder bag (£2,185).
Many
luxury stores such as Harrods, Selfridges and Harvey Nichols extend
their opening hours during July and August. ‘Gulf clients like to shop
late because they wake up late,’ an assistant in Versace explains. ‘They
come here before going out for the evening.’
At
Westfield shopping centre in West London, extra Arabic-speaking
concierge staff are laid on for Ramadan and Eid, and the upmarket
boutiques often employ Arabic-speaking female staff.
Money spider: This two-seater Ferrari
458 Italia is covered in a blue web ‘wrap’ and costs £160,000. The 4.5
litre V8 engine develops 570bhp, taking it from rest to 62mph in just
3.3 seconds
Rise of the machines: Built in
Austria, this £80,000 Terminator-style KTM X-Bow supercar is open to the
elements. When its 2.0 litre Audi engine is specially tuned, it can go
from rest to 60mph in three seconds
There,
we observed groups of Middle Eastern shoppers being ferried around the
air-conditioned mall in chauffeur-driven electric red buggies laid on by
the centre.
‘It’s
been a busy start,’ says Myf Ryan, marketing director for Westfield UK
And Europe. ‘Middle Eastern tourists take advantage of the concierge
service because they buy a lot. To carry around all those bags is just
not an option.’
Back
in Knightsbridge, Sara Ali, 35, and her sister Batool, 20, are shopping
on Sloane Street. ‘We’re on holiday with our children and our family,
but without husbands because we want to do a lot of shopping and it’s
boring for them,’ says Sara.
‘We’ve been in Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Bicester Village, and my best buys are from Dior — belts, accessories, wallets.
‘Why here? The weather maybe, and it’s more unique, more expensive things that I’d prefer to buy here rather than in Dubai.’
The
wealthiest shoppers often fly in an entire entourage to help them with
their shopping and partying, including bodyguard, chauffeurs and, of
course, cars. In the evenings in Knightsbridge and Mayfair, fleets of
so-called ‘supercars’ zoom through the streets, including a gun-metal
grey bespoke Oakley-modified Porsche 918 ‘hypercar’ valued at an
astonishing £900,000.
There’s
also a £480,000 customised Lamborghini Aventador in dark chrome, a
£170,000 modified Porsche GT2 and countless Ferraris, Bentleys and
Mercedes.
They delight the assembled ‘carparazzi’ — supercar fans who flock here for the annual display.
Many
of the vehicles have been customised, with bespoke modifications made
for members of the Kuwaiti, Qatari and Saudi royal families on a
money-no-object basis.
Mighty Merc: This six-wheel G63 AMG
6x6 is the largest civilian sports utility vehicle built by the German
firm Mercedes. Powered by a vast twin-turbocharged 5.5-litre V8 bi-turbo
engine, the beastly motor costs £370,000
Red bullet: The brushed-metal bonnet of this Maserati Granturismo MC Stradale tips the price over £150,000
‘What
the drivers really want is individual one-offs,’ says Jon Oakley, owner
of one company trusted with such alterations, Oakley Design. ‘They’ll
have their names tooled into the exhaust and bodywork and so on.’
Drivers
can use foreign registration plates for only six months at a time, so
those who keep a car here for occasional visits snap up personalised
British plates — though even these are somewhat pricy.
A
company called Prestigious Plates is offering EMII RAT for £35,000, as
well as KUW 4IIT, E9 YPT and YAII AA (for yalla, the commonly used
Arabic phrase for ‘let’s go’).
Meanwhile, for mini-sheikhs, Harrods’ toy department offers a £29,895 Mini V8 Roadster and £39,900 mini Hummer for kids.
Of
course, all these visitors need somewhere to stay between shopping
trips, and the swankiest five-star hotels across the capital, from the
Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington to The Langham in Regent Street, have
seen smart Middle Easterners booking up to 80 per cent of the rooms.
Not
that they handle the bookings themselves, of course — it is staff and
high-level concierge companies who take care of everything, making sure
their clients can fully enjoy the London lifestyle.
‘A
lot of them find it more fun here,’ says Mr Carter. ‘When they’re in
their mid-20s and at home with their families, they don’t get room to do
much; they are under strict guidelines. But here, they have freedom.
‘This
year we’ve made lots of club bookings for upmarket places like
Annabel’s. Clients agree to spend at least £40,000 in the venue so they
waive the membership requirement.’
Rumours
abound, too, of the generosity of Middle Eastern visitors. Steven
Skippen, a shoeshine at the Hilton Park Lane for the past 14 years, has
polished the footwear of the King of Jordan and the Sultan of Brunei,
and says his Middle Eastern clientele are ‘extremely generous’. One Arab
even presented him with a £1,500 pair of Berluti shoes — his ‘absolute
top favourite brand’.
And
it’s not only adults’ footwear that he tends to. Every day, there’ll be
a succession of Gucci and Louis Vuitton-clad kids who love nothing more
than to jump into his chair.
Any colour you like: A Bugatti Veyron,
hand-built at the firm’s boutique factory in Molsheim, north-eastern
France, where the well-heeled customers can pick all variety hues to
match their lipstick or nail varnish
Green with envy? This lime green Mercedes-Benz CLS 63 AMG Coupe stands out from the crowd at £82,000
He
knows his Arab customers’ tastes in footwear well. In fact, rather
surprisingly, Clarks is often among their favourite brands.
‘They
like Louis Vuitton and Gucci, obviously, but in the Middle East, Clarks
is promoted so well that when visitors come to London they rush there
and buy loads of shoes. One of my clients from Bahrain says: “Oh, yeah,
Clarks are the best shoes.” I haven’t the heart to tell him they are
not. Primark bags are flowing through this hotel, too.’
But
it is high-end designer goods that remain the biggest lure. Sisters
Sara, Noura and Hessa Saud from Saudi Arabia are staying at the
exclusive Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane with their family for one
month.
Twenty-year-old
Sara confesses: ‘Saudis are shopaholics, and at home, everything sells
out really fast — so here we have a lot more choice. We like the items
that are a big hit on the catwalk.’
It’s
not just the retail sector raking in cash from Arab visitors. After the
strict period of Ramadan fasting, female visitors also like to indulge
in high-end beauty treatments, too.
Dr
Aamer Khan, co-founder of the Harley Street Skin Clinic, says: ‘[During
Ramadan] women can’t have injectables because they can’t take anything
into their body. Following Ramadan, we get an influx for Botox and
fillers and non-surgical injectables.’
Meanwhile,
as dusk falls in Knightsbridge, the Ramadan Rush continues. The nightly
supercar parade is revving up outside Harrods and Harvey Nichols, while
chauffeurs drop off their high-spending female passengers, who are
whizzed through the hotel entrances by slick doormen.
A good night’s sleep is essential. They need to recuperate in time to carry on their spending tomorrow.
