Shopping In Iraq

If military and civilian personnel want to go shopping in Iraq, the PX (base store) is the most popular place and usually the only place to go.

The PX carries a little of everything depending on when trucks can get through. There are a lot of delays because of insurgent activity. Most of the stuff they have gets trucked out of Europe so it takes a while to get down to Iraq. Then once it crosses the border, the fun of trying to get safely to the base the truck needs to get to begins.

Some of the bases in Iraq have larger PX's than others. For instance, Baqubah's is small. Speicher is a little bigger. Al Asad has more than either of them. But at Camp Victory in Baghdad, the PX is about half the size of Wal-Mart!

Shopping in Iraq can be frustrating if you wear large-sized clothing because the PX does not carry large sizes.

All of the PX's carry some clothing, snack food, soda, juice, tea, coffee, sugar, cookies, crackers, chips, and dip. The problem is that they just don't carry them all at the same time. So one week you may be able to buy dip and sugar but not chips or coffee. Then 3 weeks later, there is a shipment with chips and coffee if you are lucky. So you learn to purchase what is there and save it until the rest of what you need comes in.

If you are shopping in Iraq for DVD's, they usually have a poor collection of old, unpopular ones. There is usually a good selection of music CD's.

One can also find some military items, barbecue grills, charcoal, coffee pots, irons, a few tools, and some cleaning supplies. Some shoes, but never in my size.

Some PX's carry meat for you to cook. Al Asad's PX has a great variety--USDA prime steak and chicken. Everyone enjoys grilling the steaks. They always come out tender and juicy.

Al Asad Had More

If you are stationed at Al Asad Airbase, the shopping in Iraq used to be better than at the other bases. Why? Because we also had another store that I ran. We carried over 1400 line items.

*****Update--I ran it from October 2005 until April 2007. Unfortunately, the store no longer exists. However, there may be others like it in Iraq in the future so I will leave it on the site so you can know what we had and what other stores may offer.

I did not own the store. I was employed by a company that had contracts with the military.

I sold grills, smokers, charcoal, and lighter fluid. Even gas grills and gas tanks, but each time your tank runs out, you had to buy a new one. Refilling a tank was almost as costly for us as buying a new one.

Our store was nicknamed Desert Depot but our real name was Al Asad Hardware And Household Materials Store.

We also carried tools, hardware, household items, appliances, furniture such as tables, desks, chairs, beds, mattresses--both spring and foam, stoves, refrigerators, and freezers of all sizes, couches, and dressers.

We had hot plates, printers and cartridges, wireless computer stuff, and plumbing and electrical supplies. Not to mention electrical converters and satellite phones. Almost anything to make your life here in the desert a little easier.

If you are shopping in Iraq for "Leather Man" stuff, we had it. Also Polarises, generators, freon, and A/C units that are called ECU because they provide both heat and cold.

Everything here is 220/50hz. Converters are available but costly. We sold several types. We did not normally order anything under 3000 watts. That way, it would pull almost anything. It would also protect your equipment in the event of a generator spike.

Almost everything operates off of generators on the bases in Iraq. They do fail and when that occurs, they can send out a spike that destroys all equipment. However, the power converters I ordered would protect your equipment by giving up its own life. They cost between $150 to $250 but were worth the price. For your shopping convenience, we accepted Visa and Mastercard when you were shopping in Iraq. People from other bases came down to Al Asad to make purchases.

There were only two setbacks when shopping in Iraq at the store I operate. The first the amount of time it took to get a shipment in after I ordered it. Last year it took two weeks to get a truck from Kuwait to Al Asad. Now it is taking six weeks to get a load of merchandise in.

The other setback is the cost of merchandise. The prices were very high because we are in a war zone and because we are located in the Middle East. Prices here are two to three times what you would normally expect to pay.

We pay a high price in Kuwait to purchase the items. The stores there have a no return policy so even if we special ordered things for clients and they decide they do not want the stuff after we get it in, we were stuck with it.

Now, you can also do your shopping in Iraq online. It is risky. Most items ship through the mail. This takes seven to ten days depending on where you are. Some items cannot be shipped through the mail. Others may not make it through the war zone.

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