The fourth instalment in our occasional mall-ology series comes from Fujairah’s biggest malls, Fujairah City Centre and the spanking-new Fujairah Mall.
A sales assistant speaks
“It is not a busy mall. Even at the weekends we do not see the custom. Maybe some shops are busy, like Carrefour, but even lunchtimes are slow.”
- A sales assistant in the fast food court gives his take on Fujairah City Centre.
What are the selling points?
Fujairah may have a population just shy of 200,000 but the geographical footprint suggests that there is a population of 450,000 with easy access to its malls, including people in the town of Kalba in the enclave of Sharjah.
Fujairah City Centre opened in 2012, covering 34,000 square metres of gross leasable area. An 11-screen cinema opened in 2013. In December, the emirate gained another mall, Fujairah Mall, the biggest in the emirate. With 38,500 sq metres of gross leasable area, it has space for 175 outlets, 60 of those shops, plus more than two levels of underground parking. A six- screen cinema is to open next month.
The sparkling new mall sits only a few kilometres from the emirate’s previous largest mall, Fujairah City Centre, which is owned and operated by the formidable Majid Al Futtaim Group, which runs another six malls in the UAE. The proximity is slightly jarring, as it is almost possible to see one mall from the other, but Fujairah’s infrastructure and town planning makes the ease of access to both malls sitting on the new main road into Fujairah from the southern emirates understandable.
Tracking footfall
I visited both malls on a Tuesday afternoon between 1pm and 3pm. I will start with the newest, Fujairah Mall.
While Fujairah Mall officially opened in December, it still has plenty of workers outfitting shops behind hoardings that hold the promise of future occupants. The Geant hypermarket, an anchor tenant, has now, belatedly, opened and given a reason for grocery shoppers to visit the mall and, according to its sales assistants, gets busy “after 4 o’clock”. The other anchor tenant is the Kart & Shoot, the go-karting and laser tagging arenas that should provide decent footfall once the schools are out. The management of the mall, Aswaq Asset Management, says that the mall is now 52 per cent occupied – but with so many empty shops, it feels like less – with agreements that it will be 70 per cent occupied when the six-screen cinema opens in March. It has Fujairah “firsts” such as a Paul cafe and a Mango.
Five minutes up the road, Fujairah City Centre had a full car park, although it does not have underground parking. Business seemed to be on the slow side. The Maf group has a successful chain of malls and rarely strays from the retail, food and beverage and entertainment formula that has enabled it to dominate Dubai’s mall landscape. Carrefour, the anchor tenant, was busy but the shops, kiosks, coffee and food outlets were sparsely populated. Sales assistants that I spoke to said that the weekends could be busy but generally trade was sluggish – the cinema and Carrefour were important assets for driving visitor numbers.
The outlook
With the retail climate softening through 2015 because of the strong US dollar, weak euro and the fall in Russian travellers, any new mall opening has to be tempered in its expectations.
“Last year was horrible for retailers,” said Guillaume Darlix, Aswaq’s chief commercial officer. “We have had delays in opening because of some municipal bureaucracy and the current retail climate. However, the mall is beautiful and our occupants are not here for a week or a year, they are here for three to five years and we have every confidence that we will be 95 per cent occupied by the end of 2016. We now have our Kart & Shoot entertainment open so the two anchors are in place. When the cinema opens in March the mall will be a different environment.”
One industry watcher has an equally sanguine view of the environment and the geography that the two malls serve.
“Fujairah is not Dubai, therefore it doesn’t act like Dubai,” said David Macadam, the chief executive of the Middle East Centre for Shopping Centres. “It has an international airport and some fabulous beach resorts, but its visitors are not the same as you may see in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. The retail offering has to be tailored to those visitors. Tourist like to buy things, and more malls mean more places to visit, which is great for Fujairah. Also Fujairah’s residents don’t have to drive to Dubai to find outlets that are now on their doorstep.”
Any hidden gems?
While Fujairah Mall had few outlets open it has a first in the UAE – O’Learys Sports Restaurant, a Boston-inspired, US sports-themed restaurant. It is a great casual dining outlet that was surprising to find in Fujairah. It abuts the indoor go-kart track with a glass wall between the two – so you can eat a burger as you watch your kids act like Lewis Hamilton.
In conclusion
The drive to Fujairah is a wonderful journey and for visitors, Fujairah’s malls are a welcome addition to the retail mix, offering both contemporary products and food options. Both Maf and Aswaq are offering something that was not provided before and have given Fujairah a fillip for the local population and visitors. The malls will thrive, but in a different way to the likes of Dubai. Fujairah isn’t Dubai, as any visitor will tell you, so why should its malls be similar?
ascott@thenational.ae
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What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
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.”
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Match info
Newcastle United 1
Joselu (11')
Tottenham Hotspur 2
Vertonghen (8'), Alli (18')
How does ToTok work?
The calling app is available to download on Google Play and Apple App Store
To successfully install ToTok, users are asked to enter their phone number and then create a nickname.
The app then gives users the option add their existing phone contacts, allowing them to immediately contact people also using the application by video or voice call or via message.
Users can also invite other contacts to download ToTok to allow them to make contact through the app.
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
CONFIRMED%20LINE-UP
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Last 10 winners of African Footballer of the Year
2006: Didier Drogba (Chelsea and Ivory Coast)
2007: Frederic Kanoute (Sevilla and Mali)
2008: Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal and Togo)
2009: Didier Drogba (Chelsea and Ivory Coast)
2010: Samuel Eto’o (Inter Milan and Cameroon)
2011: Yaya Toure (Manchester City and Ivory Coast)
2012: Yaya Toure (Manchester City and Ivory Coast)
2013: Yaya Toure (Manchester City and Ivory Coast)
2014: Yaya Toure (Manchester City and Ivory Coast)
2015: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund and Gabon)
2016: Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City and Algeria)
Understand What Black Is
The Last Poets
(Studio Rockers)
Cultural fiesta
What: The Al Burda Festival
When: November 14 (from 10am)
Where: Warehouse421, Abu Dhabi
The Al Burda Festival is a celebration of Islamic art and culture, featuring talks, performances and exhibitions. Organised by the Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development, this one-day event opens with a session on the future of Islamic art. With this in mind, it is followed by a number of workshops and “masterclass” sessions in everything from calligraphy and typography to geometry and the origins of Islamic design. There will also be discussions on subjects including ‘Who is the Audience for Islamic Art?’ and ‘New Markets for Islamic Design.’ A live performance from Kuwaiti guitarist Yousif Yaseen should be one of the highlights of the day.
