Luxury Carrefour to anchor Mall of Qatar

The new “market place” will become Carrefour’s flagship store in the GCC and include unique products, a new bakery line and higher quality food, Mall of Qatar deputy managing director Shem Krey, who is leading the mall’s construction, told Arabian Business in Doha.

Krey said he chose Carrefour as the the mall’s hypermarket because they had a strong customer base and Majid Al Futtaim, which has Carrefour licensing rights for the GCC, had agreed to tailor the store to meet the needs of wealthier shoppers expected to visit the mall.

“We were looking for that because the Al Rayyan district is a high net worth area and the Qataris that live in that immediate area are looking for upscale retail,” Krey said.

“They’ve agreed to conform to all that. We’ve already seen their plans and they will do that.”

Mall of Qatar also announced on Tuesday it would include a three-part digital entertainment centre that would be the first of its kind in the Middle East.

The centre would include an adaption of the European Angry Birds Activity Park for young children, a futuristic Juniverse space station educational experience and “high octane thrills” for teenagers and adults at Virtuocity.

The digital theme park will be developed and operated by Qatari company Tal bin Mohammed Trading, which has partnered with Rovio Entertainment and Adabisc Future Qatar.

Shem said entertainment would be a key plank of Mall of Qatar and a major contributor to its goal to attract 20 million visitors annually.

He expects 70 percent of all retailers to be confirmed by October, with at least 40 brands not yet in the GCC.

A 19-screen IMAX cinema already has been announced and a fashion-themed Curio Collection by Hilton five-star hotel also will be built as part of the mall.

The 195,000 square metre-centre is due to open in Q4 2015.