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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.
