Dubai Festival City Begins Phase Two Of Retail Expansion

Dubai Festival City has launched the second phase of its on-going retail expansion, allowing space for more fashion and lifestyle brands.

The expansion will include an enlarged festival square and add global retail brands, with an 18,5000 square feet H&M store, the mall developer said.

Dubai Festival City Mall has been undergoing a massive two-phase refurbishment programme starting in 2014.

The first phase, which began nine months ago, included repainting work, removal of certain kiosks and the addition of shopping space allowing retailers like Landmark group to setup in the mall.

“We focused on a number of retailers including the Landmark group – which is opening three stores, H&M, opening in September and a leisure and entertainment experience spread across around 7,000sqm – we can’t communicate who that is as yet – which will come to the mall in three to four weeks,” said Murray Bell managing director – Retail and Leisure at Al Futtaim Group Real Estate, which operates the facility.

The three Landmark stores – Centrepoint, Max and Emax, are spread across 100,000 square feet of retail space across two floors in the mall.

“The second phase of the refurbishment programme will focus on improving customer convenience based on listening to changing customer expectations, in terms of creating retail boxes that suit retailer demand, enhancing and increasing the F&B and leisure and entertainment options,” he said.

The developer did not reveal the refurbishment cost.

Shopping malls across Dubai are undergoing major refurbishment, raising their gross leasable area in a bid to increase their footfall and capture a larger market share.

Dubai-based retailer Majid Al Futtaim recently began the second phase of redevelopment at its flagship Mall of the Emirates while The Dubai Mall is undergoing significant expansion to increase its area by one million square feet.

To the northeast, Burjuman Centre recently opened its remodelled North Wing, which includes a new Carrefour hypermarket.

Dubai’s oldest mall Al Ghurair Centre also completed a Dhs2 billion revamp last year that added almost 850,000 square foot of retail space.