Imhotep Alabaster Luxor — Attraction in New Al Qarnh City

It’s a scam.

They were charging for example $90 USD for a pair of earrings. Or $45 for a small stone statue. Or $85 USD for a slate with Egyptian patterns.

We checked with our Egyptian friends who confirmed it’s all a lie. They said we didn’t just get scammed, we got SUPER scammed.

Our tour guide told us not to tell the company he brought us here. Red flag #1. Then, we found out from our Egyptian friends. Then, we told our tour guide we KNEW got scammed the next day, and he gave us all our money back because he was worried we would tell his company and he would lose his job. This is also how we confirmed it is a scam because we caught our guide who took us there and profited as well red handed (guides get 50% of the scam money you give the shop).

Apparently this is one of the most common scams in Egypt.

They will try to trick you and say they’re a family business, it’s hard work to make these things, it’s better quality, all sorts of these phrases they have prepared to convince you and make you feel bad and buy the items, but you would NEVER pay this price normally despite that. There’s no such thing as this. It sickens me that they call you brother and sister and all these things while doing this knowingly.

Also, they will put on a whole fake show at the start which by the way is laughable at best cause they run and sit down when you’re pulling in so they weren’t even ‘working’ there in the first place…, make you feel good, like they’re doing something for you, they even make you tea, they have a little ‘museum, they really know how to get to you, so you will feel more obligated to buy something. They have the whole script. They’ll even throw a stone down and it will break and it’s their way of telling you what they have is ‘real’ and worth the hundreds of dollars or Euros. And then they will guilt you by saying ‘this same thing would be XX Euros or dollars, we’re giving you the best deal, sister!’

This is the SAME story and SAME show as every alabaster shop here by the way. As I mention below, don’t believe me? Check out the reviews from every alabaster shop. Read the reviews. It’s shocking how they lie to make a living. Disgusting.

They are taking advantage of foreigners who don’t know what the normal price is. And if you aren’t sure, ask any Egyptian who is NOT your tour guide. They will tell you the truth right away and point you to where you can buy all this quality stuff for a fair price. Don’t take my word for it if you don’t want to, just ask your Egyptian friends.

Please, please avoid this place. Do not fall into the trap like we did.

They will probably comment that we have the wrong shop or something like they did with the other 1 star reviews. We don’t have the wrong shop. This was it. Don’t believe their comment that they will respond with here. Check out the picture I am posting from THEIR shop.

And check out the reviews for other alabaster shops around. Apparently they’re all scams and in it with the tours and guides. Buddy buddy scamming for these ‘factory’ shops. Just go get the same from a tourist stall for a few dollars instead of hundreds. I can’t believe how big of a scam it really is… seeing all these alabaster shops with the same ‘scam’ reviews. So scary. And so sad that this became a part of our experience.

Or even research about this big scam on Reddit or other sites. It has unfortunately happened to a lot of people. Apparently the tourist police can help you get your money back if this happens to you.

The only reason they have some good reviews are because after scamming you they ask you to write a good review. So unfortunately all the good reviews are from those who already got scammed and believed it all.

You have now been warned. Go at your own risk. Or skip it all together.

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Overall, we had a great experience at Imhotep Alabaster Factory in Luxor. I read a lot of reviews on the Internet about them and we decided to go there on our own. As most people, we slept on the east side of the Nile in Luxor, we took a ferry across and then a combination of walking and taking a local minibus for two Egyptian pounds/person and we got there on our own. It wasn’t about saving money, but seeing real Egyptian life. In the end, it was fun - provided you have a day for shopping in Luxor. Regardless, how you are going to get there - get there on your own, as most tour guides or people who take you to stores in Egypt insist on kickbacks from the owners, which increases price for you and ruins the fun of shopping. Also, when we first walked into the store, the first question was: “who brought you here”. Once we said “nobody”, the answer was: ”Smart – this is much better”.

The store has larger selection (multiple, large rooms) and better quality of merchandise and any other alabaster store we entered in Luxor, and we entered plenty of them. The only exception can be a few stores next to Winter Palace, but their selection was smaller. As mentioned by other people, they have a section in the store (they call it “museum”) with really high-quality stuff, that you cannot normally purchase anywhere else. You are obviously going to pay more for it, but in the end, if you want high-quality, memorable stuff from Egypt, I think it’s money well spent. It is always a good idea to visit a few other stores before going there, so you have a rough idea about prices in Egypt.

The guys who work there are pros, you are not going to outsmart them (and that is not the point of shopping there), so you have to bargain hard. Just be polite and have fun in the process. They do not hustle you. The shopping experience is very easy and absolutely not hostile, like it tends to be in other stores. Once you decide on how much you want to pay in your mind – stick to it and see what happens. Long story short - it was a good, pleasant experience. They left us alone in the store to do our search, they helped us when requested, served good cold herbal tea, answered multiple questions, the washroom was clean, and there was no hassle. I would go back there in a heartbeat, knowing what we know now, after spending a month in Egypt. In the end we bought a tone of “stones” that we had to haul with us around Egypt for another 3 weeks of this trip. After we finished shopping, the owner took us in his car to the Nile ferry, an unexpected and much ch appreciated...

Do NOT buy anything here. Everything they are telling you is a dirty lie. Nothing here is hand carved. Nothing here is actually a genuine stone. Nothing here is more than a factory made resin piece of cheap junk. Zero! All is casted with stone powder, and painted. Nothing carved. They do an entire convincing skit showing you how they carve stones and give you pieces of genuine stones and tell you that their carved statues are authentic since they are a “government shop” and they take the castings and bang them on the ground and show you that they aren’t breaking to prove authenticity. Well, if you take real stone and slam it on the ground it will break. But theirs didn’t break since it’s all resin!!! $200 later and my “lapis lazuli” Sculpture and the my “moonstone” sculptures are all nothing but painted stone resin powder. I should have listened to my son who suspected it and confronted them and they denied it and said each piece is carved by the same artist this is why each statue looks exactly the same. I am so disappointed in myself since I know stones, and I didn’t see this till days later when the same sculptures were allover Egypt and we had a local guide get to the bottom of it and one old Egyptian man admitted it was painted stone powder. I have no problem spending money but getting tricked and scammed for it is another story. Shame on you people! The picture is of one sculpture they asked $100 for- a piece of resin that they have allover Egypt probably made for $3. Now I get to look at it and more pieces every day and remember how...