The Dubai Mall (Arabic: ??? ????? "Dubay mwl") is a shopping mall in Dubai and the largest mall in the world by total area. It is the nineteenth largest shopping mall in the world by gross leasable area. Located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, it is part of the 20-billion-dollar Downtown complex, and includes 1,200 shops. In 2011 it was the most visited building on the planet, attracting over 54 million visitors each year. Access to the mall is provided via Doha Street, rebuilt as a double-decker road in April 2009.
Twice delayed, Dubai Mall opened on 4th November 2008, with about 1000 retailers, marking the world's second largest-ever mall opening in retail history behind West Edmonton Mall. However it is not the largest in gross leasable space, and is surpassed in that category by several malls including the New South China Mall, which is the world's largest, albeit largely derelict, Golden Resources Mall, SM City North Edsa, and SM Mall of Asia.
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Statistics
The Dubai Mall recorded 61,000 tickets sold for the Dubai Aquarium and Discovery Centre in the first five days, following its opening. The Dubai Mall hosted over 37 million visitors in 2009, and attracts more than 750,000 visitors every week., In 2010 it hosted 47 million, and saw footfall increase by around 27 percent over 2009, despite the economic crisis. In 2012, Dubai Mall continued to hold title of world's most-visited shopping and leisure destination, and attracted more than 65 million visitors, an increase of more than 20 percent compared to the 54 million recorded in 2011. It attracted more visitors than New York City with over 52 million tourists in 2012, and Los Angeles with 41 million. The numbers also surpass visitor arrivals to all landmark leisure destinations and theme parks in the world including Times Square (39.2 million), Central Park (38 million), and Niagara Falls (22.5 million).
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Description
Over 13 million square foot (equivalent in size to more than 50 football fields), the Dubai Mall has a total internal floor area of 5.9 million square feet (55 ha) and leasable space of 3.77 million square feet (35 ha), about the same as the West Edmonton Mall.
It also has a 250-room luxury hotel, 22 cinema screens plus 120 restaurants and cafes. The Mall has over 14,000 parking spaces across 3 car parks, with valet services and a car locator ticketing system. The mall has won five awards - two awards at the Retail Future Project Awards at Mapic, Cannes, in 2004, for Best Retail Development Scheme (Large) and Best Use of Lighting in a Retail Environment and the Dubai Mall brochure collected three awards at the Summit Creative Awards 2005 in Portland, Oregon - the Gold award for Best Art Direction / Graphic Design, Silver award for Best 4-colour B2B Brochure, and a Judges Special Recognition award.
Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo
The Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo was designed by Peddle Thorp and is managed by Emaar Entertainment. The aquarium, located in The Dubai Mall, showcases more than 300 species of marine animals, including sharks and rays.
The attraction was awarded with the 'Certificate of Excellence' award by TripAdvisor in 2012, and won the 'Images Most Admired Retailer of the Year - Leisure & Entertainment' at Images RetailME Awards 2012.
SEGA Republic
SEGA Republic, a 76,000 sq ft (7,100 m2) indoor theme park, was opened on 21 August 2009 where visitors can enjoy over 150 amusement games. It is a park that is mainly dedicated to SEGA's video game icon Sonic the Hedgehog.
The 76,000 sq ft indoor park features 15 rides and an array of amusement games, including motion simulators, classic carnival games, skill games, and a wide array of redemption games.
Recent additions to Sega Republic rides include Xyclone, Robotnik and Rope Rush, a form of obstacle course.
The park includes 'Lazeraze', a laser maze, as well as 'Racer' Bumper Cars. It also features a "soft play area" for smaller children.
Reel Cinemas
Reel Cinemas is a 22-screen cinema, also managed by Emaar Entertainment, in The Dubai Mall.
One of the largest theaters in the region, the megaplex features four cinema suites and 17 commercial halls, including the first THX-certified cinema in Dubai.
Rainforest Cafe
The Dubai Mall is home to one of the newest Rainforest Cafe locations. Having opened in 2009, it faces the aquarium and is made to emulate tropical ruins with moving ruins and light shows, which are only found at this location.
KidZania
KidZania is an interactive children's sized edutainment theme park that encourages education through play. It offers youngsters the opportunity to experience adult life through role play in a child-sized city.
Shops
The Dubai Mall contains more than 1,200 shops.
In October 2009 it was reported that the world's largest candy store had opened in Dubai Mall.
Construction
The mall was built by a joint venture of Dutco Balfour Beatty, Al Ghandi/CCC and Turner Construction for Emaar Properties and was scheduled to be completed in 2006, claiming to be the size of 50 "international-sized football (soccer) pitches". Most of the workers used in construction of the mall were Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan guest workers.
Metro Link
In December 2012, Emaar Properties have announced the completion of the Metro Link which is a 820 m long elevated, air-conditioned footbridge that connects Burj Khalifa/The Dubai Mall Metro Station to the Dubai Mall.
Expansion
In June 2013, the Dubai Mall commenced its phase one of its expansion plan by increasing the total retail floor area by 1 million sq. ft. so as to accommodate more visitors. The project is set for completion for the beginning of 2017
World records and achievements
- Largest mall in the world with total area 1,124,000 m².
- Worlds fifteenth largest mall with Gross Leasable Area (GLA) 350,000 m².
- World's largest acrylic panel (Aquarium) inside Dubai Mall, which is (32.88 m wide × 8.3 m high × 750 mm thick and weighing 245 tons).
- The world's largest sweet shop, "Candylicious", spanning over 10,000 sq ft (930 m2) inside Dubai Mall.
- Dubai Mall records more than 5 million visitors in the month of March 2010 during the one-month Dubai Shopping Festival, setting an all-time record in visitor footfall
- Dubai Mall was named the best shopping experience on 29 April 2010 by Grazia Style Awards.
- The Dubai Mall hosted a record 37 million visitors in its first year of operation in 2009, and attracts more than 750,000 visitors every week.
- The Dubai Mall hosted a record 47 million visitors in 2010, and broke the record of 37 million visitors received last year, an increase of 27 percent despite the economic crisis.
- In 2011, Dubai Mall becomes the world's most-visited shopping and leisure destination, and attracted more than 56 million visitors, an increase of 15 percent from the visitors of last year.
- In 2012, Dubai Mall continued to hold title of world's most-visited shopping and leisure destination, and attracted more than 65 million visitors, an increase of more than 20 percent compared to the 54 million recorded in 2011.
Incidents
- On 25 February 2010 the aquarium sprung a leak which led many shops to temporarily close down and forced shoppers to evacuate the mall immediately. It reopened the following day.
- In March 2015, more than a hundred foreign labourers protested in front of Dubai Mall due to overtime wages not being paid, causing disruption to traffic in the area. The situation came under control within an hour by the police.
- On 31 December 2015 the mall was evacuated because of a major fire at the nearby The Address Hotel.
In media
The Dubai Mall was featured in the documentary show called Megastructures that aired on the National Geographic Channel In January 2017, Forbes recognized Dubai Mall as one of the top shopping malls in Dubai. The mall was also featured in the popular BBC One programme The Apprentice (UK series nine) Week 5: Dubai Discount buying; where the candidates had to purchase items for the least amount of prices by utilising their negotiation skills.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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