Ali Hasan Alkabeer

During this period, most retailers were hesitant to open in the mall, and shoppers were reluctant to embrace mall shopping!

To counter this, we pioneered a solution: a Souk in the Mall during Ramadan. Simple wooden stands, 8x2m, were fixed against empty shop hoarding panels and leased to outside retailers and entrepreneurs. The mall was festively adorned, and TV personality Mr. Richard Coram hosted. Retailers donated gifts for a daily raffle, promoting their shops. Over a million people visited during Ramadan, attracting new tenants, and making it an annual tradition.

In the late eighties, female footfall in AGC was on the rise, yet the fashion offerings for women remained insufficient. To bridge this gap, the management decided to bring textile retailers from Dubai Souks to the Mall, but it was challenging. Retailers weren’t ready to invest in CAPEX or pay higher rent than the souk. On the other hand, the mall has empty space to lease! A decision was made to invest in establishing fully equipped textile shops and fashion jewellery kiosks. A prominent Dubai textile retailers was carefully chosen to join as mall partners. This move successfully carved out a niche market for the rapidly expanding female shopper demographic and facilitated the leasing of the remaining vacant shops within a remarkably short timeframe.