| Kippreport.com

The lure of Dubai’s malls

July 11, 2009 8:37 by Dana El Baltaji

This is where DSS comes in.

In spite of creating the maddening Modhesh, the DSS has succeeded in lessening the mental agony of spending money. Shoppers are comforted by discounts and raffle draws, which, for many mall-goers, justifies a spending spree

However, while the DSS has indeed provided malls with incentives to attract consumers – evidenced by the increased footfalls – we cannot assume that the statistics translate into increased retail activity.

Undoubtedly, there are malls in Dubai that have not recorded footfall increases, and have been decidedly quiet about their falling numbers. It leads Kipp to question whether the increase in certain malls, such as Mall of the Emirates and Ibn Battuta, are due to the DSS alone (which is celebrated in malls through the emirate) or due to what Govind Bharwani, president and director of Apparel Group – which retails brands such as Hilfiger and Nine West – believes is cannibalization.

“Some of the malls have been greatly impacted. I feel mainly if you look at the Dubai market, the impact has more been on cannibalizing, cannibalizing in the sense that more malls have been opened,” he said to Gulf News.

“We have experienced the Arabian Centre opening, Dubai Mall opened, the Oasis Centre has opened. Whenever a new mall opens there has been definitely an impact on the sales of the other malls, the traffic flow of the other malls,” he added.

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Tags: Dragon Mart, Dubai, dubai Mall, Ibn Battuta, mall of the emirates, malls, nakheel