JEDDAH: Thousands of people flocked to view the goods of scores of local brands filling a huge tent on the Jeddah Cornish as part of the Qamra exhibition, now in its fifth year.
Qamra is considered a hub for premier designers and brands from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf including Bullet Inc, Boutique 7 and Brhan Perfumes. The five-day event allowed Saudi entrepreneurs to gather under one roof to give their products mass exposure.
Participating categories included perfumes, abayas, footwear, bags, hats, concept stores, home accessories and cafes.
Munirah Al-Zamil, a Qamra organizer, told Arab News that every year they make sure to come up with an improvement in terms of crowd management, easier access, and more participants. Alzamil said crowds this year exceeded the 11,000 visitors at the 2022 event.
She added: “This year, we received so many compliments praising our great efforts, visitors are happy, and most of the participating brands refused to extend the event for one more day as most of their products were sold out.”
Qamra also aims to boost startups to become standalone businesses. Participating startups come out from Qamra well-known,” Al-Zamil said.
Among the participating brands was Depart, a Bahraini store offering homewares, food and fashion items for the first time in Saudi Arabia.
Faisal Al-Faddah, the buyer of Depart, said: “We carry different brands from around the globe, regional and local by Bahraini designers, we encourage independent and upcoming brands to showcase their work and we have over 20 brands.
“We were excited to try the Saudi market for the first time, and we liked it. It went very well, it is a different crowd, it is a different taste of people, and what did not sell in Bahrain was sold here, I loved the diversity.”
Al-Faddah also said among all the items on display, “all our perfumes were sold out, and visitors were eager to buy our samples too.”
Rafea, a Jeddah-based store which was launched in 2020, displayed more than 40 local handmade products.
Rafea makes abayas with designs inspired by Saudi culture with styles and patterns related to traditional embroideries such as Al-Sadu and Al-Qatt Al-Asiri.
The brand CEO Hajer bin Rafea told Arab News: “This is my second time participating in Qamra, and I can tell you that the first time was truly magical as the name of my brand was on display next to one of the very well know Saudi brands and that actually helped me with marketing my brand most and my brand’s Instagram followers notably raised after the event.”
Ahmad Hakeem, a visitor and fashion business owner, said: “Every time I visit Qamra, it inspires me to come up with many different ideas. I am so happy to see the growing number of Saudi brands.”
Another visitor, Sara Al-Moalimy said, “Qamra is the place where you can buy your special extravagant Eid peace.”
Qamra began on April 4 and ended yesterday.
