DUBAI // Dubai, the shopping capital of the Middle East, never knowingly overlooks a chance to create another retail opportunity and the opening of the city's Metro is no exception.
Although many passengers are expected to ride the rails to the malls served by the Red Line, shoppers will find plenty of opportunity to part with their cash without ever leaving the Metro's elegant stations, walkways and bridges.
The Red and Green lines together will eventually house more than 200 shops, ranging from cafes, florists, book stores and convenience shops to fashion and accessories stores, electronics outlets, pharmacies and banks.
The Red Line stations have space for 113 outlets. Some are Lilliputian units of a mere 10 square metres; the largest is 600 square metres.
Each Metro stop will have at least two and as many as 12 stores, aiming to cater for the estimated 4,000 commuters who will pass by in each direction every hour.
Store owners hope those commuters will develop a Metro shopping habit, and the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has said it also expects to attract a large number of non-commuting shoppers. But retailers and the RTA alike are to a certain extent operating in uncharted waters.
The Ramee hotel group, which will open its first Ramee Deli at the Burjuman station, is unsure what to expect.
"We will see how it goes," said Renjith Nair, a spokesman for the company. "This is our chance to test the water. There will be an opportunity to open more in other stations if it does well."
All the retail units a total of 11,000 square metres were put out to tender by the RTA. By the end of last year 500 bidders had come forward, and by May more than 90 per cent of outlets had been snapped up. Bids were as much as three times higher than the minimum required.
"It reflects the public's confidence in the Metro and the positive impact it will create in their daily lives," said Abdul Mohsen Ibrahim, chief executive of strategy and corporate governance at the RTA.
Not everything has gone smoothly, however. A chain of convenience stores announced late last month that it was backing out of 18 stores it had planned to open on the Red Line. Last Minute stores blamed uncertainty about how many stations would be ready by opening day; the RTA later confirmed that only 10 of the line's 29 stations would be open by Wednesday.
A spokesman for Last Minute told The National it was unwilling to invest heavily without written confirmation from the RTA of when the stations would open. Rent for the stores over two years would total Dh19 million (US$70m) and the company expected to spend another Dh45 million on fitting out.
It still plans to open 10 stores on the Green Line, which is scheduled to start running next year.
Retailers dealing in food and drink including some outlets that are too small to seat customers face a particular challenge: food and drink are banned on the Metro, with violators facing a Dh100 fine.
Among the food-and-drink outlets will be Ramee Deli, one of five shops in Burjuman station. "The Dh100 fine will affect business but hopefully only a little," said the company's Mr Nair. "I think someone travelling from Burjuman to Jebel Ali will sit, have a sandwich and coffee and then catch the train."
The Ramee Deli has seating for 25 and some customers are expected to "grab and go" when leaving the Metro.
"This is part of the Ramee group's ambitious and fast-growing retail food and beverage developments," Mr Nair said. "We already have a New York Deli in our Regal Plaza hotel in Bur Dubai, but this will be the first Ramee Deli. It is the only one we are opening as part of the Metro."
He said the deli was expected to attract about 500 customers a day, with numbers dropping off at the weekend.
One retailer that will not be relying on eating habits is the 40-year-old UK-based stationery chain Paperchase, which has numerous outlets at British rail and underground stations and hopes to mirror their success in Dubai. The store group has outlets in Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates and is opening its first Metro branch inside the Mall of the Emirates station.
"I imagine it is going to be very much like our stations in the UK where people travelling to and from work pop in," said Penny Duke, a spokeswoman for the chain.
"Our stores are geared toward people buying cards, wrapping paper or gift products as planned purchases rather than impulse buys because people know the stores are there."
The Metro store will stock cards, stationery, laptop bags and gifts.
Paperchase will be one of 10 shops in the 175-metre air-conditioned walkway between Mall of the Emirates and the Metro station of the same name. The others, situated over the Carrefour supermarket, will include a Borders Express bookshop, Cold Stone Creamery, Home Sweet Home, Emax consumer electronics store and a Nokia shop.
Although the RTA expects a large number of non-commuting shoppers, Parveez Pasha, an assistant manager at Borders in the shopping mall, said he felt the Metro outlet would be a "quick stop" only, though the company was expecting 1,000 customers day.
"There is no place to sit and browse books at leisure so it will be for people just passing through who are looking for something to read on the train," he said.
"There will be about 10 staff and we will only stock bestsellers, as listed in the New York Times, as well as newspapers and magazines."
Peyman Younes Parham, director of communications at the RTA, thinks the shops will be a success.
People said convenience stores in petrol stations would function only as quick-stop shops, Mr Parham said, "but our research shows people visit them an average of 20 times a month".
"That means people are no longer using them as they are simply passing through," he said, "and we think there will be people coming to Metro shops who are not just commuters."
On the other hand, the Metro outlets will not be so alluring that customers will no longer bother going into the malls. "It is a totally different experience from shopping malls and will not impact on retail there," Mr Parham predicted.
tyaqoob@thenational.ae
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
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
Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
Results
3pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (Dirt) 1,000m; Winner: Dhafra, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Eric Lemartinel (trainer)
3.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 2,000m; Winner: Al Ajayib, Antonio Fresu, Eric Lemartinel
4pm: Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 1,700m; Winner: Ashtr, Abdul Aziz Al Balushi, Majed Al Jahouri
4.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh40,000 (D) 1,700m; Winner: Falcon Claws, Szczepan Mazur, Doug Watson
5pm: Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan Cup – Prestige Handicap (PA) Dh100,000 (D) 1,700m; Winner: Al Mufham SB, Al Moatasem Al Balushi, Badar Al Hajri
5.30pm: Sharjah Marathon – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (D) 2,700m; Winner: Asraa Min Al Talqa, Al Moatasem Al Balushi, Helal Al Alawi
India team for Sri Lanka series
Test squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Priyank Panchal, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Shubhman Gill, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharath (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Sourabh Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.
T20 squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Surya Kumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Deepak Hooda, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Avesh Khan
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
Scotland v Ireland:
Scotland (15-1): Stuart Hogg; Tommy Seymour, Huw Jones, Sam Johnson, Sean Maitland; Finn Russell, Greig Laidlaw (capt); Josh Strauss, James Ritchie, Ryan Wilson; Jonny Gray, Grant Gilchrist; Simon Berghan, Stuart McInally, Allan Dell
Replacements: Fraser Brown, Jamie Bhatti, D'arcy Rae, Ben Toolis, Rob Harley, Ali Price, Pete Horne, Blair Kinghorn
Coach: Gregor Townsend (SCO)
Ireland (15-1): Rob Kearney; Keith Earls, Chris Farrell, Bundee Aki, Jacob Stockdale; Jonathan Sexton, Conor Murray; Jack Conan, Sean O'Brien, Peter O'Mahony; James Ryan, Quinn Roux; Tadhg Furlong, Rory Best (capt), Cian Healy
Replacements: Sean Cronin, Dave Kilcoyne, Andrew Porter, Ultan Dillane, Josh van der Flier, John Cooney, Joey Carbery, Jordan Larmour
Coach: Joe Schmidt (NZL)
The view from The National
Fight card
- Aliu Bamidele Lasisi (Nigeria) beat Artid Vamrungauea (Thailand) POINTS
- Julaidah Abdulfatah (Saudi Arabia) beat Martin Kabrhel (Czech Rep) POINTS
- Kem Ljungquist (Denmark) beat Mourad Omar (Egypt) TKO
- Michael Lawal (UK) beat Tamas Kozma (Hungary) KO
- Zuhayr Al Qahtani (Saudi Arabia) beat Mohammed Mahmoud (UK) POINTS
- Darren Surtees (UK) beat Kane Baker (UK) KO
- Chris Eubank Jr (UK) beat JJ McDonagh (Ireland) TKO
- Callum Smith (UK) beat George Groves (UK) KO
WITHIN%20SAND
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Moe%20Alatawi%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%20Ra%E2%80%99ed%20Alshammari%2C%20Adwa%20Fahd%2C%20Muhand%20Alsaleh%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
PROFILE BOX:
Company/date started: 2015
Founder/CEO: Rami Salman, Rishav Jalan, Ayush Chordia
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Technology, Sales, Voice, Artificial Intelligence
Size: (employees/revenue) 10/ 100,000 downloads
Stage: 1 ($800,000)
Investors: Eight first-round investors including, Beco Capital, 500 Startups, Dubai Silicon Oasis, Hala Fadel, Odin Financial Services, Dubai Angel Investors, Womena, Arzan VC
The biog
Name: Greg Heinricks
From: Alberta, western Canada
Record fish: 56kg sailfish
Member of: International Game Fish Association
Company: Arabian Divers and Sportfishing Charters
JAPAN SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Masaaki Higashiguchi, Shuichi Gonda, Daniel Schmidt
Defenders: Yuto Nagatomo, Tomoaki Makino, Maya Yoshida, Sho Sasaki, Hiroki Sakai, Sei Muroya, Genta Miura, Takehiro Tomiyasu
Midfielders: Toshihiro Aoyama, Genki Haraguchi, Gaku Shibasaki, Wataru Endo, Junya Ito, Shoya Nakajima, Takumi Minamino, Hidemasa Morita, Ritsu Doan
Forwards: Yuya Osako, Takuma Asano, Koya Kitagawa
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The Details
Kabir Singh
Produced by: Cinestaan Studios, T-Series
Directed by: Sandeep Reddy Vanga
Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Suresh Oberoi, Soham Majumdar, Arjun Pahwa
Rating: 2.5/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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