MANAMA // "Business is slow, too slow," says a retailer at Manama's Seef Mall as an empty children's train is driven round the premises to the accompaniment of nursery-rhyme jingles.
Bahrain's malls, normally bustling with activity from shoppers, arcade players and cinema-goers, have fallen eerily silent.
Since a three-month state of emergency was called last month, police and military roadblocks, as well as curfews, have meant limited movement across the kingdom. As a result, most shopkeepers have had a sharp drop in customers.
Many malls have been forced to consider cutting rent for tenants to ease the financial burden of paying their lease as revenues slip.
Al Ali Mall, one of five major centres in Manama, has been the first to cut rents. All of its 160 tenants have been given a discount for two months - until the martial law is lifted.
"We have given concessions to all tenants," said Hana al Ali, a board member at the shopping centre, without giving a value to how much the leases have been cut.
"We have done so because these are our long-term partners and their success reflects us and vice versa," she said, although she admitted that the move would "hit this year's financial statement a lot".
The government last week put forward a directive to cut or freeze some government fees for traders and small and medium-sized enterprises, the local media reported.
Bahrain's central bank has also offered a lifeline to small businesses in the kingdom that have been hit by a drop in trade because of the protests of the past few weeks.
"Unfortunately it's a snowball effect," said Ilse Viljoen, the marketing manager at Bahrain Mall. "Our footfall has definitely been affected and … we are suffering because the tenants are suffering."
Rents vary depending on the size and purpose of the lease, but are usually between 12 dinars (Dh116) and 30 dinars per square metre a month.
While Al Ali Mall has a board able to put forward and implement decisions on rent prices, other malls, such as Dana Mall in the Seef district of Manama, must consult the owners of the building, which in Dana's case is a local family business.
"We are tenants as well so it is not in our hands," said Samir Zahar, the marketing manager at Dana Mall, who has received numerous requests from tenants about reducing or postponing rent payments.
"We don't have a clear picture yet but there are requests pending to management and we will wait and see."
Dana Mall's Lulu hypermarket and the cinema are in normal times the "bread and butter" of the business, accounting for thousands of visitors daily, most of whom were from Saudi Arabia, Mr Zahar added.
But blockades on the King Fahd Causeway, the main intersection between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, has reduced Saudi customers to a trickle.
"The Qataris, the Kuwaitis, the Saudis, the Brits - everyone is at home," said a retailer at Seef Mall, who asked not to be identified.
Abdul Rahman, of the state-owned Seef Mall's leasing department, said it was only a matter of time until all malls had to cut rents.
"A lot of the customers share the same idea and the message has been passed to management," he said. "I hope a decision will be made next week."
Officials at Bahrain City Centre, which is owned by the Al Futtaim family and is the biggest mall in the capital, could not be reached for comment.
Retail and wholesale trade contribute about 7.1 per cent of Bahrain's GDP, data from the Economic Development Board shows, but this is still small compared with the 25 per cent the financial sector accounts for.
fhalime@thenational.ae
The schedule
December 5 - 23: Shooting competition, Al Dhafra Shooting Club
December 9 - 24: Handicrafts competition, from 4pm until 10pm, Heritage Souq
December 11 - 20: Dates competition, from 4pm
December 12 - 20: Sour milk competition
December 13: Falcon beauty competition
December 14 and 20: Saluki races
December 15: Arabian horse races, from 4pm
December 16 - 19: Falconry competition
December 18: Camel milk competition, from 7.30 - 9.30 am
December 20 and 21: Sheep beauty competition, from 10am
December 22: The best herd of 30 camels
ZAYED SUSTAINABILITY PRIZE
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
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Know before you go
- Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
- If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
- By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
- Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
- Flash floods are probable due to the terrain and a lack of drainage. Always check the weather before venturing into any canyons or other remote areas and identify a plan of escape that includes high ground, shelter and parking where your car won’t be overtaken by sudden downpours.
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Itcan profile
Founders: Mansour Althani and Abdullah Althani
Based: Business Bay, with offices in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and India
Sector: Technology, digital marketing and e-commerce
Size: 70 employees
Revenue: On track to make Dh100 million in revenue this year since its 2015 launch
Funding: Self-funded to date
More from UAE Human Development Report:
MATCH INFO
Norwich City 1 (Cantwell 75') Manchester United 2 (Aghalo 51' 118') After extra time.
Man of the match Harry Maguire (Manchester United)
Match info
Liverpool 4
Salah (19'), Mane (45 2', 53'), Sturridge (87')
West Ham United 0
MATCH INFO
Group B
Bayern Munich v Tottenham, midnight (Thursday)
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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