Word: malling
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Alanoud glances at her diamond-encrusted Chanel J12 watch. The truth is, today's schedule is a little ambitious. We've already "done" Wafi Mall, which opened in 1991 and since then has virtually doubled in size, with a new subterranean "suq shopping experience" planned. We've stopped by the chic Emirates Towers Boulevard to mooch around Villa Moda, the designer emporium that also has stores in Kuwait, Qatar and Bombay. And Alanoud has taken me to the Village Mall, near her family home in the ritzy suburb Jumeirah, where the latest must-have accessory is a clutch bag made...
...Mazrui, the young mother who is Alanoud's shopping buddy. Nof, who hails from the neighboring emirate of Abu Dhabi and moved to Dubai when she married four years ago (in Elie Saab couture), is about to open a kids' store called Lolly Pop in the Village Mall. But how to find her now? Right in front of us is a site map that is cut into complicated colored cross sections. We're completely confused. Alanoud whips out her cell phone. "Upstairs? By Mont Blanc and Diesel...
This afternoon's shopping agenda is not just about luxury labels. In fact, as Nof explains, most of their time at the mall is about socializing and snapping up fun, throwaway fashion from places like Zara and I-Zone (a Lebanese chain). The problem with luxury shopping in Dubai?and the great irony?is that, according to these world-class shoppers, you can't find "anything" in the stores. As Nof explains, "If Fendi receives five bags, they send them to the sheika's house (royal women get first pick). What's left over goes to personal shoppers for their...
...Those who run Dubai's malls concede that their competition includes stores in Europe (but not the U.S.). "Our main competition is Knightsbridge and Selfridges," says Eisa Ibrahim, the general manager of the BurJuman mall. Yet back in the mid-1990s, when BurJuman was gearing up to open (it, too, is in the process of expansion), most luxury brands turned down retail space. Now, even space that won't be ready until 2009 is leased...
Another day, another mall. The next morning, Alanoud shows me around BurJuman mall with her friend Raghda Bukhash, the designer of the gutra clutch bags. Under the label Pink Sushi, she also designs slogan Ts, and she gives me a peek at the one she has on under her abaya. "It translates as, 'Shake your hips, little ducky,'" Raghda says, laughing. "So now you know I'm a rock chick Madonna with my customized T and my micromini and my black tights and bright green jeweled shoes...