DAMMAM: Even as schools reopened Saturday after a short mid-semester break, stationery stores across the Kingdom are still buzzing with activity with students still thronging them to purchase necessary school supplies. Most of the shops are refurbished with latest trends in school accessories like pens, pencils, erasers, note books, drawing books, coloring tools, water bottles, school bags, etc. However, parents are not very happy with the exorbitant prices of these items and the increased presence of counterfeit items at the stores. Prices have shot up for basic school supplies like school bags, especially those which come with cartoon characters like “Shawn the Sheep” and “Sponge Bob Square Pants”. Prices of these items range from SR75 to SR150. Some of the shops which sell counterfeit items charge their customers same as as the genuine products and parents say that it is difficult to differentiate the duplicate from the original. Imitation items are found mainly for the branded items like Staedler, Oxford, Faber Castle, etc. Most of the fake products are cheap China made ones. This year most of the school stationery traders in Kingdom have concentrated on China-made products in order to grab more profit. The original items have less profit margin whereas Chinese goods are easily available and are more profitable. A wholesale dealer who sells branded quality items in Al-Khobar told Saudi Gazette that customers have to be cautious while buying stationery as there is always a risk of outlets selling fake products. “Counterfeit stationery products do not last more than a few weeks so the customers are forced to purchase the item many times over in an academic year, while an original product lasts an entire year and even beyond”, he said. Akram, a Pakistani parent, whose two children are studying at an IGCSE school in Dammam, said every other week he is compelled to buy stationery for his kids. “School supply stores are loaded with fake products and it is almost impossible to identify the fake from the genuine and the shopowners charge us the same as the genuine product. After a couple of weeks, these products wear out and we are forced to replace them. This has to stop, because this is hitting hard on our budgets along with the time wasted in visiting stationery stores every other week,” he said.
