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Dubai / Perfumers & Apothecaries

Shaikh Saeed Perfumes

Dubai · United Arab Emirates

Family-run since 1954 in Dubai's historic Deira perfume souq

Why it belongs in ORBIS

Founded in 1954 by Shaikh Mohd Saeed as one of the first perfume shops in Dubai's Deira souq, Shaikh Saeed Perfumes still manufactures its own oud attars, bakhoor and dukhoon incense, with pieces held in the Dubai Museum.

Shaikh Saeed Perfumes opened in 1954 as Al Souk, one of the first perfume shops in Dubai's Deira souq, founded by the late Shaikh Mohd Saeed on what is now Sikkat al-Khali Street, in the historic quarter that still sits beside the Gold and Spice Souks along Dubai Creek. More than 70 years on, the house still manufactures its own fragrances rather than reselling outside stock, working across oud attars, spray eau de parfums, and traditional bakhoor and dukhoon incense. Its standing in Emirati fragrance history is documented rather than claimed: pieces from the house are held in the Dubai Museum, and its work also appears in the city's dedicated Perfume Museum. Over the decades the company built out a portfolio of house brands beyond its own name — Al Hunaidi, Dhammasons, Giovanni Bacci, Saattco, Paris Oud, Bernard Dimitri and Armas among them — turning a single Deira perfumery into a wholesaler and manufacturer supplying multiple labels across the UAE. The Deira shop itself remains the through-line: a business that opened as Dubai's early trading culture along the Creek was still forming, still running from the same souk district seven decades later.

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