Saqf Al Seil: Traditional shopping street struggles amid Jordan's economic woes

The 'roofed stream' that was once Amman's main shopping area is now a commercial backwater

The ruins of the Roman Nymphaeum fountain on Saqf Al Seil street. Photo: Khaled Yacoub Oweis / The National

In the late 1970s, Jordan’s King Hussein returned from a trip to Japan with a grant to solve a public health problem in his country's capital.

A sewage-infested stream, lined by shops selling goods in bulk, ran through downtown Amman.

Using funds from Japan, a cover was built over the stream, with a street on top of it. It was stipulated that a facade of arches should be constructed on all buildings along the road to make it more picturesque, evoking the feel of an old market.

The street is known as Saqf Al Seil, meaning the roofed stream. But in recent years, its transformation from the capital’s main shopping street to a commercial backwater reflects the social-economic realities of Jordan.

The economy has been stagnant over the last 13 years, and unemployment has risen from 12 per cent to 23 per cent.

Households are having to get by on lower incomes and the chances for young Jordanians to break out of poverty have decreased.

Most of the vendors are known by nicknames, including Abu Seif, who owns a 60-year-old confectionary shop selling sweets imported from Damascus.

“Saqf Al Seil was Amman. The city’s economic life centred here,” he says.

“In some ways, the area is better than before. At least people are no longer washing clothes in the stream."

But in the past two decades the street has become dominated by stalls and small shops catering for low-income customers. They replaced more established businesses that have moved to newer parts of Amman or closed down because they could not compete with cheaper merchandise imported from China.

Many buildings on the street have been abandoned.

Several years ago, Jordanian merchant Abu Sameh moved his antiques business to a modern commercial district of Amman. “It became an effort for my customers to reach my store," he says.

"One could not even walk on the pavement because random merchandise covered the sidewalks."

Saqf Al Seil starts with shops selling charcoal and flavoured tobacco for shisha -- businesses that barely existed a couple of decades ago, when unemployment was lower and people had less time to go to shisha cafes.

The stench of the stream has not entirely disappeared, and the area is strewn with litter.

The Nymphaeum, a Roman fountain in the middle of Saqf Al Seil, was partly restored in 2015, but it has no running water. There are no trees on the street either --the desertification that plagues Jordan is encroaching even on the centre of Amman.

Abu Seif is one of few traders who do not sell Chinese merchandise.

Over a gas stove in the middle of the shop is a large pan of hariseh, a semolina-based pastry. It was previously made in a shop next door, but the owner died a decade ago and his son moved the business away from Saqf Al Seil.

Among the bestsellers in Abu Seif's shop are soft sweets shaped like traditional Arabic footwear called Ghawar's slippers. The name is based on an earnest Syrian theatre character who wore them. Abu Seif also sells nougat covered with apricot paste, and dried fruit dipped in sugar, all made in Damascus.

Affordability is key to his business. “My customers come here because my prices are half of what the prices are in the rest of Amman,” he says.

On a different stretch of the street are shops selling used clothes and shoes, imported by bulk from the Far East. These businesses are locally known as “baleh, which has boomed in the past two decades.

As you walk down the street, a line of stores selling mobile phones and accessories follows as you walk down the street.

Abu Bilal, a manager at a big electronics store, says a budget Chinese mobile phone brand, called realme, massively outsells others.

He stocks hundreds of each realme model, with only a few Samsung and Apple phones.

“The economy is not doing that well and most people cannot afford any higher quality,” he says.

But some old businesses appear to be thriving.

A large stationery and art supplies business called Zuqeily is one of them. During the week the shop is filled with mothers buying brushes and colours for their children, who are pursuing their painting hobby despite their limited means.

“There is still business, although neglect is killing Saqf Al Seil,” says a manager at the family-owned shop.