One of the largest shopping malls in the world, housed in Dubai, namely, The Dubai Mall, opened to public at 2pm yesterday, with about three times the number of stores than in any other malls in Dubai.
Covering a floorspace of about 5.9million square feet, and a gross leasable area of 3.77million square feet, the mall has 1200 stores being planned, out of which, 600 were unveiled on Tuesday, with another 300 due to be opened towards end of the year.
Out of this, about 30 percent of the gross leasable area has been earmarked to first-time brands in the region, including Bloomingdale from the US, Galeries Lafayette from France, Hamley’s toystore from London, all of which are likely to fare better in Dubai, than in their own markets.
Apart from being the largest shopping mall in the world, it will also be the largest in revenue among all other shopping malls in the world, and will remain the number one mall in the world in terms of sales, said Yousuf Al Ali, the General Manager of the Mall.
Although there has been much excitement about the size of the mall, the most attractive feature that all are looking forward to, is the Dubai Aquarium and Discovery Center. Although viewing the aquarium is free, it costs about Dh.15 to walk through the 270-degree acrylic viewing panel and another Dh.50 to access the Discovery Center, featuring otters, penguins, seals and the rocky shore, rainforest and living ocean. The Aquarium has the capacity to hold 10mn litres of water, and 33,000 animals including the giant groupers and tiger sharks, and is a Guinnes record winner for the largest acrylic panel in the world. The aquarium would no-doubt be a challenge to the ski slope at Mall of Emirates.
The mall has used up more than 13,800 tonnes of structural steel for its construction, which is more than that used on the Eiffel Tower.
Among the other note-worthy features within the Mall are the Olympic-sized ice rink, the 44,000 square feet Fashion Avenue area, the world’s largest indoor gold souq, the biggest food court in Dubai, and 220 stores and 40 outlets, and an access to view the Burj Dubai deck from the mall at 442 meters above ground level.
Dubai, which is considered as the global shopping destination, and a fiercely competitive retail industry, can now count on another 30 million visitors to its Dubai Mall, during the first year of operation of the mall.
Posted on 5/11/2008 Social Bookmarking
     
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