Timeframe: The Dubai Mall in 2008 redefined the shopping experience

From a 155-million-year-old dinosaur to unique retail outlets, the mall never ceases to amaze

The Dubai Mall will celebrate its 14th anniversary on November 4. Photo: Chris Whiteoak / The National

Dubai Mall construction in 2008. Photo: Emaar

In 2008 The Dubai Mall construction project was the largest retail development in the world. Nicole Hill / The National

A worker plants a flower bed outside The Dubai Mall on October 30, 2008 a few days before the official opening. Nicole Hill / The National

A visitor in 2019 takes pictures of The Dubai Mall waterfalls. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Visitors ice skate in the mall's ice rink with snowfall sessions. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Dubai Dino is the 150-million-year old dinosaur displayed at The Dubai Mall in Dubai. Satish Kumar / The National

An elevated view of the construction on the new extension to the mall, which was completed in 2018. Photo: Antonie Robertson / The National

A view of the extension of Fashion Avenue at The Dubai Mall. Pawan Singh / The National

Shoppers at the mall in 2019, in front of a model of the Dubai Creek Tower. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Ramadan decorations at The Dubai Mall. Pawan Singh / The National.

The Dubai Mall had the world's largest Christmas decoration bauble on display in 2018. Antonie Robertson / The National

Sealife at the mall's aquarium includes sting rays and sharks. Lauren Lancaster / The National

Fashion Avenue, The Dubai Mall. Jeffrey E Biteng / The National

It’s hard to imagine Dubai without one of the world’s most well-known malls. The UAE and Dubai have built and achieved numerous world firsts, but The Dubai Mall is really a feat of its own.

More than a Guinness World Record breaker (in fact, it has a few of those), The Dubai Mall redefined the meaning of shopping and entertainment when it opened 14 years ago.

The Dubai Mall opened on November 4, 2008 and was designed by DP Architects. It was completed on the scale of a city, at more than 120 hectares — approximately 50 football fields.

It features open, wide and airy boulevards that lead the way into the many realms of shopping. With more than 1,200 retail spaces (not including pop-ups and stalls), two global department stores — Galeries Lafayette and Bloomingdale's — and more than 200 international dining experiences, a 250-room luxury hotel and 22 cinema screens, it’s no surprise more than 100 million visitors flood there every year.

That figure is more impressive when you consider that The Dubai Mall has attracted more visitors in one year than other global landmarks such as New York City's Times Square and Central Park, even Niagara Falls.

The grand entrance of the mall once housed the Dubai Dino, a 7.6-metre-tall, 24.4-metre-long skeleton of a 155-million-year-old dinosaur. It has now been moved to the Souq Dome, which leads to the gold souq pavilion, designed with intricate and ornate motifs.

Other major attractions include the indoor waterfall and the aquarium and underwater zoo, which houses more than 300 species of marine animals, including sharks and rays. Then there's the Olympic-sized ice rink and, most recently, the mall’s very own immersive digital art gallery Infinity des Lumieres, which has displayed reimagined digital works of Vincent Van Gogh, Kandinsky and Gauguin.

The mall’s Fashion Avenue presents luxury shopping in a unique way. Aside from the engaging installations and stylish interiors, it’s rare to find nearly every international luxury brand from fashion, timepieces and homeware only a short walk from each other, but here you do.

You can't speak of The Dubai Mall and not mention Dubai Fountain, of course. The musically choreographed fountain system on the 12-hectare artificial Burj Khalifa Lake, between the mall and Burj Khalifa, attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors a year by itself.

It's more than just about impressive numbers or breaking the conventions of what malls are about, though. Like the rest of the UAE, The Dubai Mall is about an experience to remember and showing the world what amazing things can be achieved with creativity, a sense of adventure and a great vision.

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