A brand new mall has opened in Sharjah with 1.2 million square feet of leasable area. But for now, only three of the 260 stores are operational.
But this hasn’t got the developer of Safari Mall – located in the Al Muweilah area and close to the main universities – unduly worried.
“There’s a downturn in the retail sector and retailers are not willing to rush in to lease,” said Aboobacker Madappat, Chairman of Safari Group.
“Local operations of some international brands are interested, talks are on with them, but their head offices are delaying decisions. This is normal in any downturn – we were prepared for that.”
The reason Madappat is not worried has to do with the mall’s location, close to between 10,000-15,000 homes and a consumer base of more than 200,000 people.
