N. Sreenivasan Raj

Match and Fit caters to all kinds of tailoring requirements for men and women. Raj, 39, from Chennai, India, has been working as a master tailor at this shop for the last seven years.

“While it is good to get new clothes tailored, there is a greater satisfaction in being able to fit into an old pair of trousers or shirt. People have too many clothes so sometimes, even the old clothes look as good as new,” says Raj, who gets a range of alteration orders from loosening seams of dresses and blouses to increasing and decreasing lengths of trousers.

“Many a time, children wear hand-me-downs and mothers come to us for cutting a trouser short or loosening the seams of a tunic or shirt. I do all kinds of alterations for both men and women,” says Raj, who charges between Dh10-Dh15 per alteration.

“Although it is more profitable to stitch new clothes, we never turn down requests for alterations,” says Raj.

Mechanic

from Pakistan — run the shop filled with broken air-conditioners, fridges and washing machines.

Ahmad, who has been running this shop for 10 years, feels that Karama has a big market for repairs of old electronic appliances.

“Earlier, people would repair cassette tape recorders and old televisions too. We have moved on from those days but many people still believe in extracting the full value of money from their gadgets. We service this segment.

“My staff is able to turn around a spluttering air-conditioner and give it at least a year or two of extended life for as little as Dh100. Similarly, we repair old washing machines and refrigerators and charge between Dh75 and Dh200.

“I feel happy restoring these gadgets which otherwise would end up in the garbage dump,” says Ahmad, who has a regular clientele.