Just in case you, or someone your boat, develop an insatiable desire to go shopping the next time you’re on a cruise, consider this: Carrefour, the huge French-based multinational retailer, is just opening a floating supermarket in Dubai. A company statement said the floating store, named Carrefour Bites and More By the Shore, is “aligned with our vision to create great moments for everyone, every day.”
The store is on a custom-built Aqua Pod, and is designed to serve customers from megayachts, jet skis and even those on three nearby beaches. It will sell more than 300 products, including food, hot and cold snacks, sunscreen and over-the-counter drugs. If you have a dinghy or jet ski, you can cruise up to the pod and order through some windows. You also can pre-order via a smart phone or an Aqua Pod app and then pick up your purchases. The store will be open six days a week, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m, depending on weather.
Carrefour says the pod will be eco-friendly. It’s powered by batteries, it will wrap purchases on biodegradable paper, and it features a “seabin” fixed to the hull that will vacuum floating debris into a holding tank, which will be empties when the pod returns to shore.
Now the question is, will other retailers, or other harbors, follow through with floating markets of their own? Read more:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/carrefour-launches-first-ever-sail-supermarket-dubai-1169150
