Table of Contents
How to Start a Publications and Stationery Outlet Business in Dubai
Books and stationery are two of the most consistently bought retail categories anywhere: one serves knowledge and culture, the other is simply needed every day by every student and office. Activity code 4789.97 covers selling both from a stall or outlet position.
This guide covers what the license allows, who buys from you, the approval you need and the steps to get set up. One point governs everything else: this activity involves licensed media content, so the UAE Media Council clears you before the license is issued.
Key Stats at a Glance
What This License Covers
Code 4789.97 sits inside ISIC class 4789, which covers retail sale of other goods through stalls and markets. This sub-code is designated for a publications and stationery outlet: books, periodicals, magazines, newspapers and other licensed publications, together with stationery, office supplies, art materials and related goods.
The format matters as much as the product list. This is stall and outlet retail rather than a fixed specialised bookshop, which is a different class.
Read that as a positioning point rather than a limitation: it suits market pitches, mall kiosks, event and book fair stands, and campus or community outlets, all of which carry far lower fixed costs than a shop.
Three things sit outside it. Publishing the material yourself, meaning commissioning, producing or printing books and periodicals, is a publishing activity in its own division. Wholesale supply to schools, offices or other retailers is a wholesale class, not this one.
And operating a fixed specialised store rather than a stall or outlet position falls under a different retail code.
Who Your Clients Will Be
Readers across languages
Dubai's population spans more than 200 nationalities, which supports Arabic, English and multilingual ranges side by side. Government promotion of reading culture underpins the category rather than leaving it to fashion.
Students and offices
School and office stationery is the volume business: notebooks, writing instruments, paper, filing and organisational supplies. Educational institutions account for 48% of global stationery demand, and UAE term dates give the year a predictable shape.
Creative buyers
Art materials, journaling and bullet journaling supplies, calligraphy sets, craft materials and premium pens. Residential stationery is the fastest-growing segment globally at 8.5% CAGR, driven by younger buyers treating stationery as a hobby rather than a necessity.
Mainland or Free Zone
A physical stall trading to the public sits on the mainland, so a mainland license from the Department of Economy and Tourism is the route for the outlet itself.
Meydan Free Zone gives you 100% foreign ownership and a low cost base, and it suits an online stationery and book operation, an import arm bringing in titles and ranges, or a holding entity above several outlet positions.
Neither route changes the content position. Media Council approval attaches to what you sell, not to who issued your license, and it comes before you can trade either way.
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Step-by-Step Setup Guide
- Step 1, start the UAE Media Council approval first: This clearance comes before the license is issued, so nothing else can move until it is under way.
- Step 2, fix your title and product list: The publications you plan to carry shape the content review. Settle the range before you apply rather than after.
- Step 3, choose your jurisdiction: Mainland through DET for a stall or outlet position, or Meydan Free Zone for online, import or holding structures.
- Step 4, book your trade name: Check availability through the DET or Meydan Free Zone portal, following UAE naming conventions.
- Step 5, secure your position: Mall kiosk, market pitch, campus or community site. Footfall does the selling in this format, so location carries most of the risk.
- Step 6, build supplier relationships: Distributors for books and periodicals, and stationery wholesalers for the volume lines. Terms matter more than range at the start.
- Step 7, plan around the calendar: Back to school and major book fairs concentrate demand. Stock and staffing need to be ready before the peak, not during it.
- Step 8, collect your license, open a bank account and register for VAT: Register with the Federal Tax Authority once turnover passes AED 375,000.
Compliance and What You Need in Place
UAE Media Council pre-approval
The UAE Media Council is the federal authority regulating media and publications content. Its pre-approval applies to any retail business selling books, periodicals and other licensed media publications, and it comes before the license is issued rather than after. This is the gating item in your timetable.
Content compliance is continuous
Approval at licensing is not the end of it. What you stock has to keep meeting UAE media content rules, which matters most when you bring in imported titles or add ranges after opening. Build a check into your buying process rather than treating clearance as a one-off.
Sections left blank on the source page
The published activity page leaves the third-party approval, AML and references sections empty, with the Media Council position stated only in the body text. Do not read those blanks as meaning nothing applies. Confirm the AML position and the full approval conditions in writing with the licensing authority before you trade.
VAT
Register with the Federal Tax Authority once turnover passes AED 375,000.
Market Opportunity
Both halves of this business are growing steadily. The global books market was valued at USD 147.88 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 213.78 billion by 2033 at 4.18% CAGR. Global stationery products stood at USD 117.22 billion in 2024, heading for USD 180.65 billion by 2034 at 4.42% CAGR.
The UAE has built a real regional position in publishing and reading. The Abu Dhabi International Book Fair hosted over 1,400 exhibitors from 96 countries in more than 60 languages in 2025, and its 2024 edition drew 231,168 visitors and sold 160,152 books.
The Sharjah International Book Fair is among the largest in the world by exhibitor count. Events on that scale create trading opportunities directly, and they sustain a reading culture that supports year-round retail.
On the stationery side, the Middle East and Africa market was worth USD 1.49 billion in 2024. Educational institutions drive 48% of global demand, which suits the UAE's large student population, while residential stationery grows at 8.5% CAGR on the back of journaling and creative hobbies.
Conclusion
Code 4789.97 pairs a culturally supported category with an everyday one, in a low fixed-cost format. A stall or outlet position lets you test a location and a range without committing to a shop lease.
The licensing has one hard gate. UAE Media Council approval comes before the license, so start it first and build your title list around it.
Watch the source page's blank sections rather than trusting them. Get the approval conditions and the AML position confirmed in writing, then speak to the Meydan Free Zone team about the right structure for your outlet or online operation.
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