Majid Al Futtaim (Maf) has tightened its grip on Dubai's retail sector with the opening of its latest City Centre mall in one of the emirate's key emerging neighbourhoods.
City Centre Me’aisem opened yesterday in the International Media Production Zone, the first addition to the City Centre collection of malls in the country in three years.
The Dh275 million mall houses 53 stores accounting for a gross leasable area of 23,850 square metres and expects four million visitors in the first year.
It aims to service 105,000 residents in the immediate vicinity spread across 11 new communities. Anchored by Maf's own Carrefour hypermarket, City Centre Me'aisem has been developed as a community mall and will not compete with its super regional and regional malls such as Mall Of the Emirates (MoE) and City Centre Mirdif.
MoE is set to open its 36,000 sq m extension at the end of this month with a focus on domestic footfall as tourist spending comes under pressure.
“We have seen a decline in the number of tourists shopping in MoE,” said Michael Cesarz the chief executive of Majid Al Futtaim’s shopping malls business unit.
“We have compensated for the drop in tourist numbers with the retail mix, and the new extension will see a focus on luxury where we were slightly lacking before. We have 1,300 extra car parking spaces, 12 new restaurant concepts and a 24-screen cinema.”
Mr Cesarz declined to comment on when the delayed Apple store, which is reportedly part of the new extension, would open.
The shopping centre developer last month reported a 7 per cent rise in first-half revenues to Dh13.7 billion compared to a year earlier.
Occupancy across its shopping malls portfolio stood at 97 per cent as it attracted 85 million visitors through the period. Go Sport, the leisure chain, will be among the new stores opening in the Mall of the Emirates extension. It plans to open its largest Go Sport store with 3,300 sq m of floor space. It sees the MoE as an expensive but successful location.
“We know there are a lot of malls in the UAE struggling out there,” said Andrew Fairall, the general manager, sports division for Go Sport’s holding company Al Mana Group.
“Of course the rates [MoE] charged are biting into our profit but you have to be in the main locations. As long as we get some growth in the next year, we will be happy as I know a lot of people aren’t.”
While retailers may see pressure on profits, industry experts say the outlook for the emirate’s rapidly expanding shopping sector is positive.
“If you look at what Majid Al Futtaim has done with its community malls and MoE, it is very impressive,” said David Macadam, the chief executive of the Middle East Council of Shopping Centres.
“The new Me’aisem mall has a huge catchment area and if it has adequate parking it will beat most of the surrounding retail. With MoE, Maf has a brilliant concept. Emirates Airline buys and fills, on average, a new A380 Airbus every month so the tourist market is growing, as is the population of Dubai. All engines need tweaking to keep the motor running, and that’s what will happen.”
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A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
- 2018: Formal work begins
- November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
- November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
- October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
- November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
FA Cup quarter-final draw
The matches will be played across the weekend of 21 and 22 March
Sheffield United v Arsenal
Newcastle v Manchester City
Norwich v Derby/Manchester United
Leicester City v Chelsea
More on animal trafficking
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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How to help
Donate towards food and a flight by transferring money to this registered charity's account.
Account name: Dar Al Ber Society
Account Number: 11 530 734
IBAN: AE 9805 000 000 000 11 530 734
Bank Name: Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank
To ensure that your contribution reaches these people, please send the copy of deposit/transfer receipt to: juhi.khan@daralber.ae
Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital
The Old Slave and the Mastiff
Patrick Chamoiseau
Translated from the French and Creole by Linda Coverdale
RESULT
Argentina 0 Croatia 3
Croatia: Rebic (53'), Modric (80'), Rakitic (90' 1)
