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Mall of the Emirates Dubai |
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Sunday 05 July 2009 (UAE)
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Mall of the Emirates, Dubai, UAE, tel +971-4-4099000
Abu Dhabi shopping malls | Dubai shopping malls | other UAE shopping malls
- Opening hours Sunday - Wednesday from 1000-2200.
- Open Thursday - Saturday from 1000-2400 (midnight).
- Carrefour open 0900-2400 (midnight) daily.
- Ramadan timings/hours are daily 1000-0100 next morning including Carrefour supermarket. Most restaurants, cafes and other food and drink outlets are closed until Iftar - the time of day when fasting ends (between 1700 and 1900 depending on the time of year that Ramadan occurs).
Mall of the Emirates (MOTE or MOE - but don't confuse that with the Ministry of Education) claims to be the largest shopping mall outside North America - as of mid-2006. This would be correct if China was in North America. South China Mall (opened 2005) is 9.6 million sq ft, Golden Resources Shopping Mall (opened in 2004, also in China) is 7.3 million sq ft, Mall of the Emirates comes in third with 6.5 million square feet. West Edmonton Mall in Canada is 5.4 million sq ft. Those are total areas, not retail area or leasable areas. Anyway, The Dubai Mall and Mall of Arabia will open in 2008 or 2009 and fight over the number one spot, along with a couple more in China.
In addition to all the normal facilities - shops, coffee shops, cinemas, supermarket, it has a large walk-in freezer at the western end where you can go from desert sunshine and 40+ degrees Celcius to skiing and snowboarding on real man-made snow in sub-zero temperatures at Ski Dubai. The Snow Park is if you don't have a snowboard or skis but still want to cool off. Large windows separate the mall from the skifield so you can enjoy the winter scenery while wearing summer clothes.
- Mall of the Emirates is owned by Majid Al Futtaim group (MAF CEO is Francois de Montaudouin). Other shopping malls in MAF Holding are Deira City Centre, Sharjah City Center, and Ajman City Center along with a couple more outside the UAE in Egypt - Cairo and Alexandria.
- Sometimes called The Emirates Mall (but that's not really correct).
- Cost of the Mall of the Emirates was 800+ million dhs.
- Shops started opening around September/October 2005 and official opening was November 2005.
- Awarded with the title of The World's Leading New Shopping Mall in November 2005 at the World Travel Awards in London. This was shortly before it rained in Dubai and the Mall of the Emirates' roof leaked.
- Area of 6.5 million square feet with 460+ retail shops, 14 cinemas including Dubai's only Cinemax theater (not the same as the iMax at Ibn Battuta Shopping Mall), the Black Hole of weirdness in the Magic Planet entertainment area, and not enough car parks on a Thursday or Friday night (don't park on the pavement - tickets are being handed out).
- Kempinski Hotel at Mall of the Emirates has 5 stars, 900 rooms and opened in 2006. For now, it has enough car parks. Apres is a bar in the hotel Kempinski overlooking the ski slopes at Ski Dubai where you can get that genuine authentic apres ski feeling just as if you were in ze French Alps oui?
Mall of the Emirates expansion 2008-2010
Majid Al Futtaim Group (MAF) announced 28 September 2008 that they would invest AED 500 million on expansion of shopping, eating, and parking facilities at Mall of the Emirates. Anyone who has tried to find a carpark on a Thursday night will be delighted to hear that. The bad news for car parkers though is that the 750 space car park extension is part of phase II. Phase I is extending the shopping facilities.
- Expansion expected to be completed by early 2010 (cynics will say that's Dubaispeak for late 2010).
- Phase II also includes a link to the Dubai Metro. Expected completion of phase II is September 2009 - same time as the Metro starts.
Mall of the Emirates awards that you probably don't really care about
- 'Best Shopping Mall' title at the Best in Dubai Awards 2008 - beating 9 other shopping malls in a voting contest by residents of Dubai.
- 'World's Best Retail Destination of the Year' at the 2008 Retail City Awards
- 'Best Mall Award' at Grazia Middle East Style Awards 2008
- 'Brand of the Year' Award at Superbrands 2008
- Won the 'Best Design and Innovation' award at the ICSC International Design and Development Awards 2007. ICSC is the International Council of Shopping Centers, a global trade organisation representing shopping centers around the world, founded in 1957.
This information last updated Sunday 26-Apr-2009
Related pages - Internal Links
- Dubai - FAQ home and index
- Dubai Film Festival - annual film festival in Dubai (December) with most screenings at MOTE
- shopping malls in Dubai - list of other Dubai Malls and shopping malls in other emirates
- things to do in Dubai
- tourist guide to Dubai
Related websites - External Links (open in new window)
- www.malloftheemirates.com - official Mall of the Emirates (MOTE) website
- Dubai directory - add your link free