New chapters urged in the tale of the three Bs at DIFC

Frank Kane updates us on banks, barbers and bookshops at the DIFC.

I had a bit of a rant last summer about the lack of facilities in the DIFC, especially under the category of the three Bs – banks, barbers and bookshops.

I complained that DIFC workers were not very well served in three crucial areas: normal retail banking, such as making a deposit; getting a haircut; and buying anything more elaborate than a newspaper.

I had some reaction from the DIFC authorities back then, which can be summarised as: watch this space. They promised me there would be improvements, and quick. I can report some progress, but none of it especially impressive. There’s still a lot to do to make the DIFC a pleasant and efficient place to conduct your daily business.

The banking area remains a problem that looks insurmountable.

It’s all to do with the laws that set up DIFC in the first place, apparently. As an offshore centre, DIFC was banned from providing any of the facilities – such as deposit-taking – that might imply it was home to normal retail banking businesses, which are overwhelmingly onshore.

So despite all the cash machines in the DIFC, you still cannot have a bank customer service centre, or even a machine that takes cash and cheques as deposit.

That seems an unnecessarily strict interpretation of the rules, but I’m told there is no chance the situation will change.

On the haircut front, things have improved slightly. A “men’s grooming salon” opened under the banner Hommage Atelier last autumn, and it certainly is a treat to have your hair done by the professionals there, as well as a manicure or pedicure if you have time.

It’s a treat, but also a bit of a luxury. The Atelier is so swanky and upmarket, as well as a little on the expensive side, that as much as I enjoyed it I couldn’t go there every couple of weeks just for a routine short-back-and-sides.

It’s much too grand for that. So I’ll have to keep making the trip across the SZR to my barber of eight years standing, George Habib in the Crowne Plaza hotel, who in any case is unbeatable and well worth the short taxi ride from DIFC.

On the question of the bookshop, I had the greatest hope. Ever since Borders shut down some time ago, there has just been nowhere with a full range of magazines, let alone stationery or books. The DIFC said it was looking into it, and I would be pleasantly surprised soon. Now, I presume they were referring to The Bookshop, a pleasant cafe-cum-book vendor specialising in works about the Middle East, new and second-hand.

If you want a snack, you can grab a coffee and a brownie while scanning the latest offering in the oeuvre of Alexander McNabb. The shop is great, and I cannot fault it for what it aims to do.

However, neither The Bookshop, nor the Magazine shop just across the bridge in Gate Village, have any aspirations to be a properly stocked book shop.

What I had more in mind was a branch of the fantastic Kinokuniya, the “world of books” store in The Dubai Mall that really is the best in the UAE, probably in the Middle East.

It would not have to be as grand as the mall store, which carries an incredible range of publications. Just an outlet that has bestseller non-fiction and business books (but not too many of the latter), as well as the cream of the print newspapers and magazines.

I’m sure the DIFC’s big-spending clientele would provide the market to make such a venture a success. Come on DIFC, what about it?

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