Monday, December 22, 2014

CNN 'discovers' megamalls and consumerism in Iran

 
Iranian customer of a fully-stocked Hyperstar Supermarket in Shiraz  [photo: Thomas Cristofoletti]

Jounalist Thomas Cristofoletti has recently published photos from Iran's megamalls and supermakets.

According to Allison Love at CNN on 16DEC14:
"The perception we have (about Iran) is not real," [said Cristofoletti]. "My idea was to try to see with my eyes what is the reality of Iran."
Cristofoletti chose to show this new reality by documenting the increasing presence of Western-style consumerism in a country steeped in tradition. His photos juxtapose typical Iranian markets with modern, brightly lit shopping malls. 
"Even if traditional grand bazaars continue to be the favorite places to shop for regular Iranians, they now face competition from huge shopping malls, which were erected in the outskirts of major cities across the country," Cristofoletti said. The malls feature supermarkets, international brands and vibrant video game arcades as a kind of alternative entertainment.
"I was really surprised to see these kind of modern stores and malls," he said. "Shopping has become a near-obsessive ritual for young people."
Regular readers of Uskowi on Iran have to be amused by Thomas Cristofoletti's surprise at seeing these huge, fully-stocked magamalls and blatant consumerism evident in Iran today. 

For nearly two years we've been posting pictorials detailing the construction and opening of these megamalls and Hyperstar supermarkets, as well as providing photographic evidence of consumerism. Testimonials from recent, frequent travelers to Iran have also been included, from persons like Flynt and Hillary Mann Leverett.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The typical American has very little knowledge about other countries. This similarly like the typical Iranian has very little knowledge about other countries. The internet and ability to travel has greatly helped people all over the world to learn about other countries, and add to that if they happen to see something on their TV about other countries.

Also, would the typical American really be interested in seeing huge shopping malls in Iran? I suppose the answer to that might be, would the typical Iranian really be interested in seeing huge shopping malls in Australia? I think that if Iranians happen to be interested in Australia they might be more interested in seeing Kangaroos, Koala Bears, the land and the culture of the people.

Anonymous said...

The problem is that the products in these malls are inferior junk that would not sell in the West. Any quality products in these malls are overpriced, sometimes costing two or three times as much as they would cost in the West.

Further Iranians don't have any money. The average salary and Iran was about $4000 a year before the currency crashed.

So in summary neither the products nor the demand nor the experience is anything like what you see in the West, or China, or Russia, or India, or Latin America, or Africa. Iran is an isolated and miserable hell hole.

Anonymous said...

"The problem is that the products in these malls are inferior junk that would not sell in the West. Any quality products in these malls are overpriced, sometimes costing two or three times as much as they would cost in the West.

Further Iranians don't have any money. The average salary and Iran was about $4000 a year before the currency crashed.

So in summary neither the products nor the demand nor the experience is anything like what you see in the West, or China, or Russia, or India, or Latin America, or Africa. Iran is an isolated and miserable hell hole"

you are such a desperate retard.......... :)