Dubai’s shopping spree

For the survival of the fittest in 2009, it appears Dubai has emerged as the strategic focus for chains embarking on expansion strategies.

Retailers are braced for battle as international and local names announce plans to open stores in the raft of new malls across the city.

This week Emaar Malls Group, the shopping malls subsidiary of Emaar Properties, unveiled the Dubai Marina Mall.

Its latest shopping and entertainment destination in the emirate will soon feature the UAE's second Waitrose, pitched as the largest supermarket at Dubai Marina.

With similarly high expectations for the New Year, Majid Al Futtaim Group will boast the first indoor skydiving centre at a shopping mall, which will open at yet another of the upcoming retail hotspots Mirdif City Centre in 2009.

The Dubai Mall, one of the world's largest shopping and entertainment destinations, has added on 100 new stores in less than a month since its opening on November 4, making history in the world's retail sector for the maximum number of simultaneous store openings.

The majority of The Dubai Mall's 1200 stores are expected to be operational by early 2009 including Galeries Lafayette, one of the mall's two key anchor department stores, while the other, Bloomingdale's, will open in 2010.

The community superstore concept SouqExtra! plans to increase its current retail space portfolio by 500,000ft², and according to managing director Saleh Lootah, "crisis or not, people will go for basic services and needs. And there is still a lot of expendable income around, from both nationals and expatriate residents".

The first SouqExtra! outlet at Ewan Residences will be launched in the first quarter, with new stores and locations to follow in Al Ain in the third quarter. In 2010, new centres will open in the Al Barsha, Al Quoz and Al Muhaisnah areas of Dubai, in addition to Fujairah and Ajman.

As gloomy news reports across the globe document suffering on the high streets and in the shopping centres and retailers brace themselves to cope with one of the worst years on record in 2009 as pressured customers look to save money and retail profits nosedive, Dubai's retail bosses are putting up a brave and incredibly optimistic front.

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READERS' COMMENTS

Dubai Dearest
Posted by mussafer on Wednesday 31 December 2008 at 23:34 UAE time


I buy only essentials in Dubai as shopping for the same quality items on Bond street is both cheaper and more fun. Why would anyone go to Dubai to shop?

Spending power!!!!
Posted by Arjun, Dubai, UAE on Tuesday 30 December 2008 at 14:05 UAE time


Take my word for it i have recently in the past 6-8 months have experienced all the stuff which i wanted to buy have shot up in Dubai....i had been to India in Aug-Sep and did a lot of shopping as prices over there were 40% cheaper. Before i buy anything here i just send an SMS and i get the price so i know if i have to buy anything here apart from essentials. People are slowly getting the pinch in UAE.....imagine buying stuff from Europe and the U.S and getting it shipped at much lesser the price available here and ye the retailers give a lot of shit talk about service and warranty.....my friends dont get fooled by all this. Nothing of that exists except for a very few branded products. I'm bewildered by the prices here as in India and other countries there is tax,VAT and so many other things to pay up for and yet the prices are cheaper....imagine.....i have been to malls recently and i check how many people are actually buying......frankly my friends there are very few. Supermarkets are doing good business as usual coz' people can't survive without daily needs anywayz. The speculative prices have to drop considerably or else god save the retailers here.

Dubai’s shopping spree
Posted by ismail, dubai, uae on Saturday 27 December 2008 at 09:17 UAE time


Don't know why we accept consultant comments about Retail, Property etc. Dubai Mall retails are crying for business same as others. Most of shopping cetre is full of visitors for Super Market Shopping, Food and Movie, you can observe yourself in major shopping mall. Dubai Mall are very expensive Good for Visit Only

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