Groceries

Local high-street shops and the major supermarkets in Qum — plus how pricing and labelling work.

Local stores

Most residential areas have a high street with a mix of grocery stores, clothing shops, butchers, bakeries, greengrocers, banks and barbers. Supporting local businesses and building relationships with store owners is always a good idea. Speciality stores often seen on Iranian streets include:

• Shirinee — sweet shops selling cakes, pastries and traditional and modern sweets, often bought for gatherings, gifts or to enjoy with tea.
• Labaniyyat — dairy shops offering fresh yoghurt, milk, cheese, butter, cream and traditional products such as doogh and kashk. Foreigners should boil unpasteurised milk before consuming it.
• Attari — traditional shops specialising in herbal medicines, natural remedies, honey, vinegars, distillates, oils and nutritional supplements.

Supermarkets

There are three major supermarkets in Qum: Kowsar, Janbazan and Hyperstar. Kowsar and Janbazan are centrally located but can get congested at peak times. Kowsar offers an online service (KowsarPlaza), and Hyperstar delivers via Snapp! Market. Mini-supermarket chains such as Ofoq Kourosh and Canbo are spread throughout the city with good promotional offers.

By law, all goods must be labelled with the consumer (masraf konandeh) price by the producer, alongside production and expiry dates — making it easier to avoid overpricing.