Groceries

Local Stores

Many residential areas in Iran are located near a main road or high street that serves as the focal point for local shopping. These roads typically feature a mix of goods and services, including grocery stores, clothing shops, butchers, bakeries, greengrocers, banks, barbers, and more. Although many of these shops are modest and offer less variety than larger stores, supporting local businesses and building relationships with store owners is always a good idea. Some speciality stores often seen on Iranian streets include:

Shirinee

Literally translated to ‘sweets’, shirinee shops sell a wide variety of cakes, pastries, and both traditional and modern sweets. Customers often visit these shops to purchase sweets for gatherings, gifts, or simply to enjoy with tea, which is a prevalent practice in Iranian culture.

Labaniyyat

Labaniyyats are shops dedicated to selling fresh, high-quality dairy products. These stores typically offer a wide range of dairy goods, including yoghurt, milk, cheese, butter, cream, and traditional products such as doogh (a savoury yoghurt-based drink) and kashk (a type of fermented whey). Labaniyyats often source their products from local farms, ensuring freshness and supporting local agriculture. While there may be health benefits to consuming raw, unpasteurised milk and dairy products, most foreigners should exercise caution. Boiling the milk before consumption can help eliminate harmful bacteria. These products also have a shorter shelf-life due to the absence of preservatives.

Attari

Attaris are traditional shops specialising in herbal medicines, natural remedies, and health products. They offer a variety of dried herbs, natural products like honey, vinegars, distillates, oils, and traditional remedies for common ailments. Nutritional supplements from organic sources are also available. These shops hold cultural significance, representing a link to Iranian traditional medicine and remain popular for their natural treatments and fewer side effects compared to modern medicines.

Supermarkets

Contemporary supermarkets offer the convenience of bringing most, if not all, of one’s grocery and household shopping under one roof. There are three major supermarkets in Qum: Kowsar and Janbazan and Hyperstar. These supermarkets are spread over a large space and sometimes over multiple floors. Like supermarkets in the west, they typically have sections for different groups of products, larger aisles, and signage that make it easier to find items. Kowsar and Janbazan, being fairly centrally located, are easy to access but can get very congested at peak times.

Kowsar provides an online service called KowsarPlaza where people can shop from the comfort of their own homes. However, there are normally fewer choices compared to physically going to the supermarket and there is also a delivery charge. Hyperstar also has an online service which is provided for via Snapp! Market.

In addition to these large supermarkets, there are multiple mini-supermarket chains spread throughout the city. The most prominent of these are the Ofoq Kourosh and Canbo chains. They provide a larger variety of products compared to local grocery stores and sometimes have very good promotional offers.

According to the Consumer and Producer Protection laws, all goods must be labelled with the price by the producer. This makes it easier for consumers to ensure they pay the right price at checkout, especially new foreigners who may be a target of overpricing. In addition to the production date and expiry date, the consumer (masraf konandeh) price is labelled on the goods as shown below.

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