Dubai Mall chiefs have said visitor numbers are so far been ahead of expectations, but reports from some retailers suggest visitors seem more interested in window shopping and visiting the aquarium than buying goods.

“While I cannot comment on retail spending within individual outlets in the mall, I can confirm that initial footfall at the mall in its first month of trade has exceeded our expectations,” general manager Yousif Al Ali told Arabian Business.

“We particularly experienced strong visitor inflow and robust sales during National Day and Eid Al Adha, one of the high-points in Dubai’s retail calendar,” he said.

But some of the mall’s tenants have found that business is slower than they were anticipating.

“It’s not the great business that we expected it to be, but I think the reason is that a lot of shops are not open yet,” said one shop owner, who asked not to be named.

“People are concentrating more on the aquarium and all the special things, like ice skating, than really shopping.”

Traffic congestion and construction work in the area has also deterred some shoppers from visiting Emaar Malls’ flagship development.

Dina Saleh, co-owner of lifestyle boutique S*uce, which will be opening an outlet in the mall shortly, said the general consensus among the shopping centre’s tenants seemed to be that November was “quite slow” but that Thursday, Friday and Saturday were “really picking up”.

“I think it’s too soon to make a call on it,” she said, adding that retailers will have a clearer view of the situation in March, when a significant number of shops, including French department store Galeries Lafayette, is expected to have opened.

The Dubai Mall said last week that 100 new stores have come on line since it opened on Nov. 4, when just over half of its 1,200 retail units were operational.

Among those was Hamleys, the world famous toy store that has long been a favourite with Gulf tourists in London.

Hamleys chose the mall for its first outlet in the Middle East. Retail Arabia, which holds the franchise, said sales were ahead of expectations during the weekend.

“Weekdays are okay but are constantly improving as more and more stores keep opening in the mall,” chief executive Nabil Daud said.

“We have not seen the financial crisis deter parents in buying toys for their young ones. I don’t think they ever will!” December had been “great” so far, he added.

Hamleys is among the stores that have seen a lot of window shoppers.

“We really do encourage people of all ages and walks of life to walk in, roam around and enjoy our store. We hope to bring out the little kid inside everyone or at least give people a few moments to forget their daily chores and let them have fun,” Daud said.

On Thursday, EFG Hermes said that consumer spending in the UAE is likely to come under pressure in 2009 as the region feels the impact of a slowing global economy.

“The slowdown in nominal private consumption growth should be far more marked than before and will be driven by a number of factors,” the bank wrote in a research note.

“The sharp fall of global, regional and domestic stock markets will dampen the increase in consumer spending markedly, as will the fall in domestic property prices.”

Growth in the tourism sector is also expected to slow, as is the demand for expatriate labour.

Source: Arabian Business

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