Abu Dhabi // Shoppers sleeping on the floor before opening time and staff unable to cope with the influx of bargain hunters - Abu Dhabi went retail mad as Yas Mall’s 24-hour shopping experiment led to its busiest ever weekend.
“There was no space to move or to sit; the number of visitors roaming around was incredible,” said Ahmad Al Lamy, from Dubai.
“There were a lot of people sitting on the floors and even sleeping at one point.”
Chzarina Uy, a hotel worker who lives in Dubai, had also travelled to Abu Dhabi for the ‘Mega Sale’.
“We couldn’t walk around or sit anywhere,” she said.
“I heard about the buy-one-get-one-free-offer at Michael Kors, but due to overcrowding we weren’t able to enter the store and the management eventually shut the doors. I couldn’t get the chance to see any of the discounts”.
Overcrowded stores weren’t the only complaint. Promises of overnight shopping and huge discounts drew in tens of thousands of people, although some said they felt the price cuts had been oversold.
“Where are the sales? I couldn’t find anything,” said Tala, an undergraduate student at Zayed University. Fellow resident Deena said there was “nothing to find in the sales and there are clothes all over the floor.”
Fadia Abdel Karim, from Lebanon, spent 90 minutes trying to park her car at 10.30am on Sunday, and then was underwhelmed at the discounts on offer.
“The only things discounted by 90 per cent was stock that was at least two years old,” she said.
“While many shops claimed to have sales, there seemed to be very little stock discounted.”
Bricks and mortar retailers across the UAE have struggled with weakening consumer confidence this year. Employment uncertainty and the rise of e-commerce players has led to has led to dwindling returns for many.
But despite the complaints of some shoppers, businesses say the past few days marked a huge boost for business.
Although the total number of visitors over Eid is yet to be calculated, Firoz Ali Khan, operations manager of Fun Works, said visitor numbers were huge.
“We had around 12,000-15,000 thousand on Sunday and we are expecting those numbers to double today. On a normal weekend we usually have 4,000 to 6,000 visitors.
“We have never had this many visitors in the history of Fun Works, this is a new experience for us and due to the 24-hour event and promotions.”
Mery Ann, manager of clothing store Promod, said “Yesterday was extremely busy, we weren’t expecting it to happen. This was the first time in the history of Promod that we had around 8,500 visitors and made 2,000 sales in one day”.
Andy Lee, business director for Hamleys, said he was “amazed at the success of the sale.”
“We did 20 per cent more business than I was expecting. He started forming at 8.30am on Sunday with the sale only due to start at 10am.
“I have never seen the mall so busy. We had a really good day. I was surprised because the UAE’s retailers have had a very challenging year and many of the discounts have already been offered throughout the year just to get people into the stores. I was concerned shoppers would have ‘discount fatigue’ but it seems not.”
