Made in Jeddah with love
Of the most prominent features of old town Jeddah are its historic buildings. With their intricate wooden-designed windows and balconies, Made in Jeddah lets you take a part of history back home in miniature size.
Made in Jeddah, a quaint souvenir shop owned by Mohammed Sales Albadni — a native of the city who grew up with a passion for showing its most unique features — is one of the only souvenir shops with original works in the city.
Growing up selling goods in his father’s shop, Albadni was accustomed to seeing foreigners walking around and taking pictures of buildings in Jeddah’s historical downtown.
He befriended many tourists and learned some English. With time, many of the neighboring shop owners and their families moved uptown for better opportunities, but Mohammed remained.
“Living in Al-Balad is different; you see foreigners walking and taking pictures of the buildings and the life of the locals, it’s something that made me think that there is something much more special about this area,” he said.
In 2014, he decided to pursue his dream and opened his souvenir shop “Tethkar Jeddah,” which roughly translates to
Jeddah Souvenirs, hoping that it would become a significant part of the area.
He began by importing low-cost goods from China but was disappointed by the shop’s performance; it was not doing as well as he’d hoped. But one visitor changed everything.
A Saudi customer from the central region entered his store one day and said: “Why open a souvenir shop, when there is nothing special to show about Jeddah?” That question moved Albadni to bring a little bit of Jeddah to his customers. Surrounded by buildings that date back over 300 years, the unique homes of Jeddah’s historical downtown tell a story. Builders would mine for coral limestones in the nearby coastline for building foundations. The woodwork was intricately designed by architects from the Levant region and each window or balcony — known as the Roshan — would be painted in green, blue or brown.
Mohammed turned his shop’s story upside down by crafting his own version of the buildings in miniature size, using the same material in the buildings surrounding him today.
He would extract the same coral limestone and even carved the miniature Roshan works on his pieces.
Made using local craftsmen and materials, these miniature gifts were bestsellers as soon as he added them to his store.
“I wish business owners walked an extra step and worked hard to localize their products. It will enhance the Saudi economy and encourage companies to make Saudi products since the government has eased the process of starting businesses,” said Albadni. Mohammed’s path wasn’t easy, but his financial shortage didn’t stop him.
Instead, he fought for his passion and his love for his city.
He was not as successful as he’d hoped when he opened the shop, but things picked up for the better. “Made in Jeddah” is not a common tagline, but Albadni’s belief in it is what made the difference to his now-popular store.
I wish business owners walked an extra step and worked hard to localize their products.