High-End Shopping in Kabul, Afghanistan (2022)

Summary

The video explores ABC Supermarket in Kabul, highlighting a wide range of products, from high-end brands like Louis Vuitton and Prada to everyday items. The narrator compares prices, noting both affordable and expensive options. They also visit the Turkish Hypermarket, discussing its offerings and cultural context. The video gives viewers a detailed look at shopping in Kabul, emphasizing the availability of diverse and upscale products despite common perceptions. The narrator interacts with locals, providing insights into the shopping experience and local customs.

Takeaways

• 🛍️ The video showcases a visit to the ABC Supermarket in Afghanistan, highlighting the variety of products available.
• 💰 Products range from affordable to high-end, with brands like Louis Vuitton and Gucci being mentioned alongside their prices in dollars.
• 👕 The supermarket has a clothing section with items like Adidas shoes and scarves, indicating a diverse range of apparel offerings.
• 🍼 There's a baby section with products like wipes and baby oil, suggesting the supermarket caters to families with infants.
• 🏰 The script mentions 3D puzzles and toys, indicating that the supermarket also offers entertainment and educational items for children.
• 🍽️ A restaurant is located inside the supermarket, suggesting a one-stop shopping and dining experience.
• 💡 The video also mentions a blackout affecting the supermarket, with frozen items like ice cream being affected, reflecting local challenges.
• 🍫 The presence of international brands like Toblerone and Kinder surprises indicates the supermarket's connection to global markets.
• 🥤 Alcohol is prohibited, and thus not available in the supermarket, reflecting cultural and legal restrictions in Afghanistan.
• 🛒 The script describes the supermarket as possibly the best in Afghanistan, suggesting a high standard of shopping experience.
• 🏬 The visit to a Turkish Hypermarket in Masjid Mall is also documented, indicating the presence of international retail influences.

Q & A

What is the name of the supermarket being visited in the video?

The supermarket being visited is called ABC Supermarket.

What high-end brands can be found in the ABC Supermarket?

High-end brands such as Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Gucci can be found in the ABC Supermarket.

What is the approximate cost of a product priced at 11 pounds in US dollars?

The product priced at 11 pounds is approximately 13 US dollars.

What is the price range for the scarves in the non-food section of the supermarket?

The scarves in the non-food section are priced between 12 and 14 pounds, which is around 13 to 15 US dollars.

What is the price of a product that costs nine thousand in the local currency?

The product that costs nine thousand in the local currency is over 100 US dollars.

What kind of products are available in the baby section of the supermarket?

In the baby section, products like baby wipes, baby oil, and 3D puzzles from various cities are available.

What is the price of a pack of cigarettes in the supermarket?

A pack of cigarettes costs only 40 US cents in the supermarket.

Why is there a mention of 'Toblerone dark chocolate' in the script?

The mention of Toblerone dark chocolate is to highlight that it is available at a good price of 1.50 US dollars in the supermarket.

What is the price of a can of Coke in the supermarket?

A can of Coke is priced at 30 cents, which is equivalent to about 33 US cents.

Why can't beer be found in the supermarket?

Beer cannot be found in the supermarket because alcohol is prohibited in the entire country of Afghanistan.

What is the name of the second shopping location visited in the video?

The second shopping location visited is a Turkish Hypermarket within the Masjid Mall.

What is the price of a bottle of apple juice in the Turkish Hypermarket?

The price of a bottle of apple juice is not explicitly mentioned, but it is implied to be reasonable as the person decides to take one.

What is the price of a liter of milk in the supermarket?

A liter of milk costs 70 US cents in the supermarket.

What is the price of a package of high-end dates in the supermarket?

A package of high-end dates costs almost 20 US dollars in the supermarket.

What is the price of a can of energy drink in the supermarket?

A can of energy drink is priced at 2 US dollars in the supermarket.

What is the price of a bottle of pomegranate juice in the supermarket?

A bottle of pomegranate juice is priced at 1.20 US dollars in the supermarket.

What is the price of a pack of Viagra and condoms in the supermarket?

The price of Viagra and condoms is not mentioned, but their availability is noted as rare in Afghanistan.

Outlines

00:00

🛒 Exploring ABC Supermarket in Afghanistan

The video script describes a visit to the ABC Supermarket in Afghanistan, showcasing a wide variety of products ranging from luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and Prada to everyday items. The narrator highlights the surprisingly upscale offerings, including high-end clothing and baby products, and comments on the prices in comparison to the local currency. The script also mentions the availability of free toilets and the presence of a restaurant within the supermarket. The narrator expresses surprise at the diversity and quality of products available, challenging common perceptions of Afghanistan.

05:00

🍹 Discovering the Turkish Hypermarket in Kabul

The second paragraph details the exploration of a Turkish Hypermarket in Kabul, emphasizing its size and the range of products available, from toys and sweets to electronics and beauty products. The narrator notes the absence of alcohol due to prohibition in Afghanistan but the presence of various non-alcoholic beverages. The script also touches on the cultural aspects, such as the prevalence of Turkish products and the interaction with a store employee who speaks Turkish. The visit to the Hypermarket reveals a vibrant shopping experience with a diverse selection of goods.

10:01

🛍️ High-End Shopping and Cultural Insights in Kabul

This paragraph delves into the high-end shopping experience in Kabul, with a focus on the variety of products available, from designer items to local and international foodstuffs. The narrator discusses the pricing of various items, including toiletries, dairy products, and condiments, and compares them to what was seen in the ABC Supermarket. The script also includes interactions with store employees and observations about the local business environment, reflecting on the economic challenges faced by the region.

15:03

🏙️ A Glimpse into Kabul's Shopping Mall and Daily Life

The fourth paragraph provides a broader view of daily life in Kabul, with the narrator visiting a shopping mall that includes a variety of shops and services. The script mentions the availability of unusual products like Viagra and condoms, reflecting the diversity of consumer needs. It also touches on the cultural restrictions in place, such as the closure of karaoke bars and the prohibition of music, and the impact on local businesses and individuals. The paragraph concludes with encounters with various people, including a language academy and a businessman, offering insights into the international connections and the current state of affairs in Kabul.

20:04

☕️ Social Interactions and Global Perspectives in Kabul

The final paragraph captures social interactions in Kabul, with the narrator meeting and conversing with locals and tourists. The script highlights the international nature of the city, with mentions of German tourists and a businessman from Dubai. The conversation touches on the global economic downturn and its effects on travel and business. The paragraph ends with a friendly exchange, reflecting the human element amidst the backdrop of a bustling city.

Keywords

💡Supermarket

A supermarket is a large self-service store that offers a wide variety of food and household items. In the video, the theme revolves around exploring a supermarket in Afghanistan, showcasing its diverse offerings and the surprising range of products available, from luxury brands to everyday essentials.

💡Luxury Brands

Luxury brands are high-end, prestigious brands associated with quality and exclusivity, often commanding higher prices. The video mentions brands like Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Gucci being available in the supermarket, which is unexpected and highlights the diverse range of products.

💡Pricing

Pricing refers to the process of setting the price at which a product or service is sold. The video script frequently mentions the prices of various items, giving viewers an idea of the cost of living in Afghanistan and comparing it with other regions.

💡Upscale Products

Upscale products are those that are considered high-quality or luxurious. The script describes finding upscale items such as Adidas shoes and branded phone cases in the supermarket, indicating the availability of a wide range of products beyond basic necessities.

💡Baby Products

Baby products are items specifically designed for the care of infants. The video mentions baby wipes, baby oil, and milk powder, showing that the supermarket caters to the needs of families with young children.

💡Non-Food Items

Non-food items are products that are not edible and are used for various purposes other than consumption. The script discusses non-food sections of the supermarket, including clothing, electronics, and toiletries, emphasizing the supermarket's comprehensive product range.

💡Cultural Products

Cultural products are items that reflect the traditions, art, or values of a particular culture. The video mentions Islamic paintings and handbags, indicating the integration of local culture into the products available in the supermarket.

💡Economic Conditions

Economic conditions refer to the state of a country's or region's economy, including factors like affordability and purchasing power. The video provides insights into the economic conditions in Afghanistan by discussing the prices of various goods and the presence of both affordable and high-end products.

💡Prohibition

Prohibition refers to the act of forbidding something by law or authority. The script mentions the prohibition of alcohol in Afghanistan, which is evident in the absence of beer in the supermarket, reflecting the country's cultural and legal restrictions.

💡Hypermarket

A hypermarket is a very large retail store that combines a supermarket with other retail merchandise. The video visits a Turkish Hypermarket, indicating the presence of international retail formats in Afghanistan and the diversity of shopping experiences available.

💡Shopping Experience

Shopping experience refers to the overall impression and satisfaction a customer gets from shopping at a particular store. The video provides a detailed account of the shopping experience in an Afghan supermarket, including the variety of products, pricing, and customer service.

Highlights

The ABC Supermarket in Afghanistan offers a wide range of products including luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and Prada.

Prices for certain products are significantly lower than expected, such as a Gucci item priced at 60 dollars.

The supermarket has a non-food section with scarves priced at 12 to 14 pounds, which is considered not too cheap.

Upscale items like La Costa and Adidas are available, with some costing over 100 dollars.

The supermarket provides free toilets, a rare amenity in the area, located near the baby section.

Baby products such as wipes and oil are priced reasonably, averaging around a few US dollars.

3D puzzles and school supplies like Super Mario and soccer decor are available, indicating a variety of products for different interests.

The supermarket is described as possibly the best in Afghanistan, with a wide array of products and decorations.

There is a restaurant inside the supermarket, and despite blackouts, the food items like frozen fish are still available.

Some products like protein powder and certain milk products are notably expensive, with milk costing 1.70 dollars per liter.

Toblerone dark chocolate and high-end dates are available at reasonable prices, offering good value for money.

Alcohol is prohibited in the country, hence no beer is available in the supermarket.

The supermarket offers a variety of non-alcoholic beverages and snacks, including energy drinks and chips.

Electronics and beauty products are also sold in the supermarket, with some items appearing to be counterfeit luxury brands.

The Masjid Mall houses a Turkish Hypermarket that is large and offers a variety of products, including Turkish sweets.

The Turkish Hypermarket is more accommodating to filming, in contrast to the ABC Supermarket.

Olive oil is available at a better price compared to sunflower oil, which is considered overpriced.

The supermarket also sells a variety of foreign specialties and local products, such as Nutella and protein powder.

Uncommon items like Viagra and condoms are also available in the supermarket, showing a wide range of products.

The Masjid Mall includes a language academy where one can learn various languages, including German and Arabic.

Transcripts

so today I would like to show you a

supermarket as you can see this is the

ABC Supermarket so I just want to go to

the supermarket and Taliban friends to

stop me yeah I have to understand

zindabad so now I'm in the supermarket

so you can see they have everything even

Louis Vuitton bags

Prada

how much is the product

this is like 11 pounds 13 US dollar

Gucci

you can find everything here

and for much better prices

this is like 60 dollars

for

you can find everything so this is the

um

non-food section

um because I went to the top floor at

first

and I want to see what else they have

oh

you've no scarves

12 pounds thirteen fourteen dollar

not too cheap

or what is upstairs yeah well okay I

will check he is the main clothing

section

ah

so yes yeah yes

got yes I like it I like it yes

when it's cold I need something warmer

let's check out what I have here

this thing

costs or nine thousand this is oh this

is over 100

so they do have a lot of upscale things

even here

La Costa

Adidas

everything you want

yeah so this is a bit one thirty dollar

could be original for this price

yeah shoes

oh another nice Adidas

oh twelve dollar

toilets here actually very nice

[Applause]

so they have free toilets

yeah inside the supermarket

just at the baby section

so you can see baby whites

wipes so again 100 Afghani uh one pound

so one hot

Afghani are like 1.1 US dollar so these

things are about three US dollar

this is five dollar

baby oil five dollar

uh three dollar something prizes are

just average I would say you'd have 3D

puzzles from London Paris

Spain Barcelona

17 investors at the White House

the Moscow building

things for school

Super Mario

soccer Decor even though they're prefer

Cricket I think wow this is probably the

best supermarket in entire Afghanistan

I've seen some nice decorations

you know

Islamic paintings

baby toys

handbags golden handbags

for 30 dollars

flour things

a restaurant

inside

here oh frozen fish

kilo for seven dollars

ice cream

yeah this happens when you have

blackouts

the problem here even the sneakers are

frozen here you know PhD smart

never have seen this

protein low sugar wow three US dollars

that's not cheap

M M's

Rocher

milk

very expensive

the dollar seventy for a liter of milk

sausages soy milk also almost two years

so the supermarket is also quite

expensive you want to see here

more ice cream

you can see juice

cheese

so you can get everything here probably

a different picture of what you expected

from Afghanistan

I mean for most foreigners we haven't

been here at least a Toblerone dark

chocolate is a dollar fifty

that's a good price

dates you can get very high-end dates

for almost 20 this pack

very very good ones oh here you see five

dollars for the lint chocolate

oh it's a lot cheap

of meat

lots of non-food stuff as well

energy drinks the original

two dollars well these things are cheap

a can of Coke only 30 cents

UK cents fans

so 33 U.S cents

oh here more people right you can't find

beer because alcohol is prohibited

completely in the entire country

but they have multiple or of course my

favorite pomegranate juice or 1.20

that's very cheap

it's for Pure juice is it pure

100 juice

very good for dollar twenty here more

non-food Electronics

you can find balls or even are these

original

that's the third dollar

oh yeah yeah

wow this board thing also thirty dollar

that must be fake Gucci phone cases

perfume sunglasses also Gucci but you're

also almost 100 still I think the

originals are more than they love me

this little basket

so very kind of them

I'm just afraid they would complain that

I'm filming

so far nobody said anything so your

beauty products

they're probably original that's what

they're expensive

what ten dollar

I love love bears what is this

option for men

or you can get a pack of cigarettes for

only 40 US cents that's crazy but the

brands they're still about four dollars

So at the supermarket

foreign

things baby products

carbonated drinks

they're interesting

looking Supermarket here you find the

beans I think kidney beans

lentils

the rice

soy protein I think

very good

these are very nutritious products

and I think they're not very expensive

peace

products

surprises here

two pounds for this toilet cleaner

one pound for this dishwashing liquid

it's 80 cents for the

this is rice

honey honey almost three dollars

honey syrup USA

never seen anything like that

milk powder for the babies

it's more expensive it's 15. more 15

pounds

to heal milk products

Russian

Russian brand

here's some cookies

Nutella

until it costs the three dollar

something

and then here some tea

people love tea here as well like in

Pakistan coffee

toodle or something

candy

nice

you should get some candy for the kids

again

I think that's a good idea

and some chips

so now we're here in the Masjid Mall

and here's a Turkish Hypermarket

although let's see how big this

Hypermarket is

see here they have toys

I think this is part of the Hypermarket

here they have a non-food

where's the entrance

oh I think it's the entire floor over

here

wow

it's really big

turkey

of course

to have turkey sweets

pretty delicious

oh lots of space

you have some things you can find

toys

yeah it's usual Market yes oh you're the

boss oh I see very nice are you from are

you of God you're not from Turkey but

you speak Turkish oh can you say

something in Turkish

but then why is it the Turkish

Supermarket so unfortunately his English

was not too good

um so but still I think in this

Supermarket they might not complain

about me filming let's see what Pollocks

they have

look you can even find find Hershey

syrup for three pound trendy

lots of other products

oil

huh

Tikka macaroni

milk powder

yeah so you see I mean I'm showing you

the best supermarkets most shops are

like small corner stores yeah so these

places are a little bit more high-end

upscale the best I could find in Kabul

in the capital city

yeah so

it's different

toothbrushes you find

these bottles

yeah

soldier soldier but only four it's like

five dollars

oh yeah 25 cent

I'm gonna take an apple juice

I need to have some other juice but beer

they don't have it here

the peach small beer

interesting

so some other energy drinks of course

eggs

this kind of eggs I'm not sure what good

is this picture next

more cheese turkey says iron

yogurt iron yes it's iron so they have

like non-alcoholic shots

they're interesting

yeah of course no alcohol beer

horse beer

no alcohol

trains more energy drinks and here let's

say the German Red Bull but if it's from

Germany they would not have any

copyright infringement

so this is not made in Germany this is

made

in Germany

says here head office Germany

how can they do this so here you can

find beautiful Lambs as well

mucho is his Turkish Style

looks very pretty look what they have

here

beautiful pictures

where is this it's a turkey

this where is this in turkey or

Afghanistan

very beautiful mosque let's see are you

Turkish no no you're from Afghanistan

they are the boss is Turkish no why is

it called Turkish

I don't know yeah

none it's all I've gone yeah yeah

um but why is it called Turkish

why is it the name Turkish Turkish ah

it's just the name all right because

there is a lot of

uh things ah things are the things are

from Turkey I see like here this

very nice

come to shop here this is the best

supermarket in Kabul yeah the best place

in Kabul to go shopping all right here

actually they support me making videos

not like the ABC Supermarket with a

complaint

that wasn't so nice so here I just told

him it's for YouTube and they say yeah

film as much as you want by the way Head

and Shoulders

4.50 about it's not cheap one thing that

sheep is the oil

you can find olive oil

virgin chord pressed for two dollars 250

milliliter much better than this

sunflower oil which is overpriced this

is like 13 for this big one

yeah so olive oil is much better

tuner it's a dollar

ketchup to dollar

yes and products which I don't know dry

yeast Chinese

yeah

and a little bit of meat just one leg

is left

foreign

specialties

oh Nutella is ramella it's almost the

same price 250.

yeah

but maybe ramella tastes better I

haven't tried it so some other sweets

and uh

yeah I think that's it

candy

even find protein powder

I think for this price

can't really see

yeah

so they'll have all the way it's a good

price

22 pound was much more expensive in the

ABC Supermarket here 40 for 50 for this

thing

it's getting more and more expensive

do you also have condoms

condoms

over there

oh yeah

foreign

wow

it's here you see they even have like

some strange products they have Viagra

yeah and condoms yeah the lion

this is rare to find in Afghanistan

actually so you can see they have all

kinds of stuff nice designers the ropes

for the shoes

here they have

sculptures horses

and other beautiful things

beautiful pictures

I swear

it's very nice shopping mall

here's a restaurant

over there some food

you can see it's

very nice

the restaurant chicken I think is like

KFC something like this

security or Italian

ah okay they're good look at this

they used to have a karaoke bar music

Village in karaoke night

but it's all closed because these things

are forbidden right now oh so this close

yeah

no karaoke in Kabul

oh there are no karaoke bars no music oh

no music all right

so

far is forbidden so all the music

students and classical music enthusiasts

are not happy here in Kabul in

Afghanistan

uh

they're not too many options

but one thing you can find is The

Language Academy over there look

you can learn all kinds of languages

yeah German Dutch Arabic I mean I'm

wondering how many Dutch students they

have here I mean you see there's a Dutch

flag even ah it's a language school yeah

ah so you can learn all these languages

oh very interesting yeah nice

but Belgium Belgium is not a language

Belgium is a language and here what are

you selling here

so why do you speak English

you speak English

I say he looks like a German

very nice okay

hi oh I'm good you speak English

speaking English no English no English

fussy

oh yes you speak English you working

here yes I actually I came from Dubai oh

this is here and my office in Dubai oh

what are you doing here what is your job

now now in the hotel they're searching

to improve my business

oil and gas business

I'm a tourist tourists from Germany from

Germany yes Germany now not good

so Germany same is also bad the entire

world has no business

foreign

[Music]

experts

expert yes he said close it better

because business is down everywhere

everywhere is down yes I know we are

going to take a photo yes I'll take a

video for YouTube memorize memorize yes

of course and you are alone uh I have

friends uh I'm gonna visit my friend now

for tea

no family in Germany yes I just come to

visit okay you too thank you tosaco