Al Safeer Group opens the regions latest mega mall

DUBAI - Al Safeer Group, a diversified commercial company spanning furniture, real estate, manufacturing and trading across the GCC, yesterday unveiled its most ambitious project yet - Safeer Mall on the Dubai-Sharjah Highway.

By Lucia Dore (SENIOR CORRESPONDENT)

Published: Mon 6 Feb 2006, 9:42 AM

Last updated: Thu 20 Oct 2022, 3:06 PM

The opening of the 1.2-million square foot mega mall, at a cost of Dhs250 million, is another step towards ensuring the region becomes the world's leading retail centre, where shopping has become synonymous with entertainment. Mega malls have become commonplace in the UAE but the anticipated increase in tourism, forecast to reach 15 million tourists in 2010, and high economic growth, is expected to continue to foster a booming retail sector.

At the inauguration ceremony chairman of the Sharjah Economic Development Department, Shaikh Tariq bin Faisal Al Qassimi said: "With growth rates of 7 to 8 per cent, the UAE is growing fast enough to support an increase in the number of shopping malls. In the emirates, shopping malls are major attractions. The more you have the more tourists you will attract."

The chairman and CEO of Al Safeer Group, JP Kalwani also said: "These are exciting times for retail players like us. The opening of Safeer Mall is in line with our regional growth plans and aims to become a formidable player in mall retailing in the region."

The three level mall offers shoppers a diverse range of products- from electronics and telecommunications to jewellery, fashion and home furnishings. It also differs from other shopping malls in that each floor is dedicated to a particular shopping experience; in this case, the second floor is dedicated to home furnishings.

In line with the trend for developing mixed-use shopping and entertainment complexes, a major anchor of the mall is "Space City", one of the largest indoor themed family amusement centres in the UAE. It has a futuristic theme and is complete with asteroids, meteors and space ships.

The company has said the location of the shopping mall was determined by the availability of land - it already owned the plot next to its flagship hypermarket-discount centre - which had a loyal customer base in the Al Nahda area. And being on the Dubai-Sharjah highway, with daily traffic of over 500,000 cars, it was a convenient stop off point for commuters - away from the rush of Dubai or Sharjah downtown and with car parking available for 2000-plus cars,

Other malls the company plans to open in coming months are the Safeer Mall RAK (500,000 square feet) and Safeer Mall Abu Dhabi (90,000 square feet), both of which are expected to open later this year. Safeer Mall Fujairah (500,000 square feet) is scheduled to open in 2007 and Safeer Mall Sohar (350,000 square feet) in Oman in early 2008. The group already owns and operates the 300,000 square foot Century Mall in Dubai and the 220,000 square foot Safeer Mall in Ajman.

The group's vision is to become a "formidable player in mall retailing in the region. The group's retail division is divided into malls, hypermarkets, boutique stores and family entertainment centres. The company describes its malls as belonging to the "peoples mall" category where customers can buy quality products at reasonable prices with convenience, including easy car parking, access to essential services and a good mix of shops. Al Safeer Group, with its strong hypermarket background, places a specific accent on stores offering electronics and mobiles, jewellery and watches, fashion and lifestyle, home furnishings and gift ideas - mostly regular needs of any household and of any hypermarket - and family entertainment. Some stores are owned and operated by the group and others are leased out.