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While U.S. Retailers Close Stores, World’s Largest Mall Opens In Dubai

Written by Evan Schuman
November 6th, 2008

While the headlines in the United States tell of store closings and expansions being back-burnered, it’s a very different story in at least one part of the Middle East. In Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Tuesday (Nov. 4) saw the world’s largest mall opening ever. The mall opened that day with almost 600 retailers, which is barely half the number of retailers mall developers say it will have once it’s “fully operational.” The retail mix includes two anchor department stores (Galeries Lafayette and Bloomingdale’s), 220 gold & jewellery outlets, 160 food & beverage outlets, a supermarket and an organic food mart.

When consumers get bored with shopping, the mall will house an Olympic-sized ice rink and an aquarium that is supposed to have the Guinness World Record for being the “World’s Largest Acrylic Panel.” Heck, that’s worth the trip right there.

Posted in IT Strategy/Industry
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