News Dubai

Low-cost mall to open in Al Quoz industrial area

Dubai: A low-cost shopping mall "built by labourers for labourers" is set to open in the Al Quoz industrial estate on Monday.

The Dh15-million Grand City Mall will feature 35 different retail outlets catering to different segments.

It includes pharmacies, travel agents, a driving school, a hypermarket and numerous food outlets, all aimed meeting retail demand from low-paid workers.

Anver Ameen, managing director of mall operators the Regency Group, said he expects to see sales reach Dh250,000 per day at the mall's hypermarket.

Anver Ameen confidence was based on the sales performance of the Dubai-based company's first mall built in Al Quoz in 2004.

The mall which broke even in its first year of trade, but brought in profits of Dh2 million the year after.

Ameen said he was initially shocked that an area with thousands of workers did not cater to their basic shopping needs, forcing them to make long and expensive trips into the city centre to buy affordable products.

"In 2004 we found that there were thousands of people of many nationalities working here, but there were no basic shopping facilities for them," he said.

"We knew it was the right time to introduce a mall and now the demand is there for a bigger facility - I am 100 per cent confident it will succeed," Anver Ameen added.

In addition to the new 100,000 square foot Grand City Mall, Regency Group is planning to open a similar facility in Jebel Ali Free Zone by January 2007.