How many pairs of Manolo Blahnik stilettos can one city wear? And how many Ralph Lauren polo shirts, Mulberry handbags or Rolex watches?
Are there enough well-heeled feet, arms and legs – and wallets – in Abu Dhabi to support yet another high-end shopping mall?
In two years, eight months and 12 days, we will find out.
“March 1, 2018,” says Ken Himmel, with a precision unusual in a part of the world where construction deadlines are frequently an expression of hope rather than actual dates. “That’s when we open the doors.”
Mr Himmel is the president and chief executive of Gulf Related, a joint venture between American retail giant Related Companies and the UAE private equity fund Gulf Capital.
The date is the opening of Al Maryah Central on Al Maryah Island, that is already home to the Rosewood Hotel, Cleveland Clinic and the luxury shopping mall, The Galleria – another development by Gulf Related.
Variously described as a mall, mega-mall and a “super regional urban shopping centre”, or even an entire district, Al Maryah Central will add even more shops, restaurants and entertainment to a city that seems dangerously overloaded with malls, even before the opening of Yas Mall last year, and with Dubai little more than an hour up the road.
But Al Maryah Central is no desperate last throw of the dice in the game of shopping. Rather it is a confirmation that there is nowhere quite like the UAE when it comes to retail.
It is a concept that those unfamiliar with the region find hard to grasp, says Mr Himmel. “Locals here visit shopping malls for more time and more times than anywhere else in the world.”
The extent of this spending power is not always obvious. He is familiar with the anecdotal stories of empty corridors and deserted counters in the most expensive retail centres.
But the reality is that in the United States, a new retail venture is considered a success if it brings in takings of US$500 (Dh1,830) a square foot.
In the UAE, a department store like Bloomingdale’s in Dubai Mall will take double that, or $1,000. Dubai is the most successful Bloomingdale’s after the flagship store in Manhattan.
There will be a Bloomingdale’s anchoring one end of Al Maryah Central and at the other end a Macy’s department store – the first outside North America.
In between are hundreds of familiar brands, and some new to the country, such as Dylan’s Candy Bar, the sweet shop founded by Dylan Lauren, the daughter of designer Ralph.
There will be about 80 restaurants and cafes and two recreation areas, one for sports and the other for children.
Once it is built, who will come? Research carried out for Gulf Related shows that in Abu Dhabi island and the closest suburbs, the annual spending power is $5.86 billion or Dh21.5bn. By opening day in 2018, this will have risen by another $1bn.
Beyond the city, there is a huge potential regional market, particularly Saudi Arabia. Abu Dhabi International Airport’s new Midfield Terminal, effectively a new airport, is due to open in 2017.
For Al Maryah Central, at the heart of the new Abu Dhabi Global Market Square free zone, the projected number of annual visitors is between 20 and 25 million. The research for the development describes it as “surrounded by wealth”.
Right now, the site is nothing more than a 5-hectare rectangular hole in the ground facing the Rosewood Hotel and the existing Galleria mall.
An announcement on the final contract for construction is expected within weeks and, with foundation work already well advanced, Mr Himmel is so confident of opening on time that he is prepared to name the precise day.
If this seems ambitious both in time and scale, then one reason is that his Related Companies is one of the world’s most successful high-end retail developers.
It was behind the Time Warner Centre, facing New York’s famous Columbus Circle, with a luxury mall, a Whole Foods Market in the basement and a collection of foodie heaven restaurants, including sushi master Masa Takayama, whose chef’s choice Dh1,652 set menu (Dh2,200 with Kobe beef) is the most expensive in the city.
Two years ago, the Gulf Related consortium opened The Galleria on Al Maryah Island, a collection of luxury retail brands including Dior, Alexander McQueen, Christian Louboutin and Louis Vuitton.
Initial impressions of The Galleria were that it was not exactly overrun with customers. But Mr Himmel says this misses the point of shopping at this level, where it is not the size of the crowd, but rather the size of your bank balance that counts.
For these kinds of shops, “it only takes 10 customers a day to hit their budget,” he says.
In any case, The Galleria is only the first part of the project. Although separate from the new mall at Al Maryah, the two will be connected by air-conditioned walkways.
The idea is that the new shops will attract aspirational customers who will be drawn towards the designer names in The Galleria. Not too many, though. Research has shown that the wealthiest shoppers do not appreciate rubbing shoulders with a crowd of bargain hunters. They actually like it quiet.
Beyond Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s, most of the names coming to Al Maryah Central have still to be announced. But Mr Himmel says that more than 75 per cent of the space has been filled. In some cases there are two or three brands ready to move into a single unit. There will be no soft opening. Everything will open at once in March 2018.
Mall culture is so ingrained in the UAE that many families visit them several times a week. For Al Maryah Central to succeed though, the trick will be not just to get them to come but to keep them there.
Mr Himmel is a believer in the concept of so-called “big box” outlets, such as Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s, as the anchors of a successful mall, but says that Al Maryah Central will be more than retail.
In addition to a multiscreen cinema, the rooftops of two multistorey car parks will be used as entertainment complexes. One has been designated “Sports World” and will feature retailers such as Nike, but also outdoor areas for skateboarding and a climbing wall.
On top of the other car park is “Children’s’ World”, with an outdoor landscaped play area featuring a carousel ride and a cafe.
A supervised area for younger children will be located inside, plus an entertainment complex themed by a major name that in Mr Himmel’s words, “will be Disney-like, but it’s not Disney”.
Will all this be enough to sate even Abu Dhabi’s thirst for retail therapy? There are firm plans for another mall on neighbouring Reem Island, but catering to a more middle-income market.
Saadiyat Island’s Cultural District master plan includes a mall at the centre of its museums district, although no date for its construction or completion has yet been given.
Mr Himmel believes that Al Maryah Central, once opened, will be hard to top.
“We are building,” he says, “the last mousetrap”.
plangton@thenational.ae
