DUBAI — Just when it seemed it couldn’t get any bigger, Mall of the Emirates, Dubai’s original megamall complete with an indoor ski slope, unveiled an entire new floor to the public on Monday, adding an additional 388,000 square feet, about the size of eight football fields.
The extension project, dubbed “Evolution 2015,” took 18 months to complete and was built entirely on top of the current mall. “Mall of the Emirates will never be ready, it will always evolve to meet the needs of what the customer is looking for,” said Michael Cesarz, chief executive officer of Shopping Malls at Majid Al Futtaim Properties.
The addition includes two new domes, three major glass-barrel roof skylights, nine new bridges, and three escalators to connect the extension to the existing mall. The floor is home to a movie theater complex, the Middle East’s largest, and 40 new retail outlets and restaurants. The stores include the Middle East debuts of Abercrombie & Fitch, Lululemon and AllSaints. “The market in itself changed massively in the last 10 years. Ten years ago it was about delivering something to the people when malls like this didn’t exist here,” Cesarz said. “Now it’s more about delivering experience. Customers are very demanding and our philosophy is that we want to have the nicest stage in the world.”
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Part of that experience is to create a more seamless transition between the mall and retailers. “Shops are more visible and transparent so you can see in and see out,” he said. “The idea is that the mall is part of the shopping experience, not just a street. We create a stage and bring together the actors.”
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The addition features an area of restaurants with natural light flooding in which simulates an outdoor alfresco environment. “Summertime is a hostile environment here,” said Cesarz. “You can’t do anything outside. People want to be somewhere. A shopping center is a place to have leisure time with family and for a family to spend the whole day.
“As the world becomes smaller, we have to compete with every major shopping destination in the world,” said Cesarz.
While he said that Mall of the Emirates doesn’t focus on any one competitor, there is a very big one right next door, with the Dubai Mall only 15 miles away. That, too, is undergoing a massive 1 million-square-foot expansion.
The size of the mall is a hard balance to strike, admitted Cesarz. “As soon as it gets too big, your customer gets tired. If it’s too small, you can’t spend the whole day,” he said. “Some malls are so big you don’t know where to start or where to end. In Mall of the Emirates we have had a huge advantage from the beginning — it’s about architecture, a street square concept. We created a little village.”
As far as demand goes, waiting lists to enter destinations like Mall of the Emirates — which has been listed by the International Council of Shopping Centers as the most profitable shopping center in the world in terms of sales per square foot — remain long. “We are working to bring the right mix to our customers,” Cesarz said.
William Kim, ceo of AllSaints, was on hand for the opening on Monday. “This store is very important for several reasons,” he said. “Dubai is a premier business and leisure hub in the Middle East, and the Mall of Emirates is among the world’s leading shopping destinations, with both high tourism traffic and a very sophisticated local customer.”
All Saints will debut its accessories-only concept at the Mall of the Emirates location. “This is a fantastic location to showcase our new brand concepts, the first nonapparel store in the world,” said Kim. “It’s a testament to our commitment to this market and our confidence in presenting the full brand experience to this region.”