UMM AL QUWAIN // The country’s smallest emirate also has the smallest amount of retail choices, frustrated residents say.
Despite a growing population, Umm Al Quwain has only three small malls, with few big-name shops. Because of this, many people living there travel to other emirates to do their shopping.
But with house prices rising in Dubai, more people are moving to UAQ, so consumers are calling on authorities to provide them with better shopping facilities.
Diaa Abdelrahman, 29, from Egypt, said: “The influx of people to the emirate because of the low rents really means that they should open some big malls.
“I am sure this would be good for Umm Al Quwain, from a commercial and economic perspective.”
The customer-service worker said that while there is a Lulu Hypermarket, it is not as large as the ones in other emirates.
“You can buy your daily necessities there, but for my other needs that are not available here I have to go to the Ajman City Centre.”
Mohammed Omar, 48, a Sudanese marketing officer who has lived in Umm Al Quwain for 25 years, said he does all his shopping in Ajman.
“It would be great to have more malls in the emirate as they are a mixture of urbanisation and entertainment,” he said.
“I’ve been living here for four years and it’s not getting better,” said Osama Mohammed, a 34-year-old banker from Egypt. “I am still going outside the emirate to buy all my goods because not everything is available here.”
Mohammed Suhbay, 36, an Egyptian salesman, said: “Umm Al Quwain is a great place to work and relax because it is a quiet place, but for shopping I always go to the other emirates.”
Odai Albeik, 23, from Jordan, works as a cashier at a money exchange. He has lived in UAQ for seven years and said he was happy with the shopping options.
“I don’t want more malls because this will lead to an increase in rents,” he said.
Odai Albeik, 23, a cashier at in a money exchange from Jordan who had lived in UAQ for seven years, was content with the quality of shops there.
“I don’t want more malls because this will lead to increase the rents,” he said.
“I spend my week at work, and in the weekends, I go to the other emirates for shopping and entertaining.”
Abdulqader Al Halabi, 24, a supervisor at Carrefour said: “The prices between Ajman and Umm Al Quwain are different because Ajman Carrefour is a hypermarket, but the one here is a market which is smaller in size and brings less amounts of goods.”
“If they open a big mall, it will be better because I always have to go to Sharjah to buy branded clothes.”
A spokesman for the municipality said there were no plans to open a mega-mall in UAQ.
“Any investor who wants to open a business will open it in an emirate that has many residents, but Umm Al Quwain has small population,” he said.
He added that the municipality had not received any request from an investor who wants to open a big mall here.
And before it could be opened it would need permission to be built by the ruler of the emirate.
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