Saturday, Sep 28, 2013

Al Bahia, Abu Dhabi: A new Carrefour hypermarket, Abu Dhabi’s fifth, opened on Saturday at Deerfields Townsquare, a shopping mall recently built on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi city at a cost of Dh700 million. The opening of the new hypermarket is expected to help meet the pent up demand in the retail segment in the suburban area.

“The mall is 80 per cent leased, already. Its formal opening will take place by the end of the year,” Mohammad Al Haj, chief executive officer at Mubarak Brothers Investments, a venture capital firm, told reporters here. Deerfields Townsquare Shopping Centre is the flagship project of Mubarak Brothers.

Banu Tas, general manager of the Deerfields Townsquare Shopping Centre said Al Bahia, Shahama, Al Rahba, Al Reef, Khalifa City A & B, Al Raha Gardens and Al Raha Beach are the catchment areas for the newly-opened Carrefour hypermarket, with a combined population of nearly 150,000 inhabitants.

“We are expecting around 6,000 people at the Carrefour, daily. After the formal opening of the mall, we are expecting a footfall of 12 million people a year, first year onwards,” Tas added.

Expansion plan

Pronob Kerr, general manager — expansion at Majid Al Futtaim (Retail), a UAE-based company with Carrefour franchises across 38 countries, said the opening of the Carrefour hypermarket at Al Bahia is in line with his company’s five-year expansion plan. “We see a big potential in this market for growth,” said Kerr, adding that in addition to running 19 Carrefour hypermarkets across the UAE, Majid Al Futtaim is operating 21 Carrefour supermarkets, altogether, in Dubai and Sharjah and three in Qatar.

“Our 25th Carrefour supermarket will open by December in Abu Dhabi at Al Seef Village mall. It will be the first Carrefour supermarket in Abu Dhabi,” Kerr said. Tas, previously, said there will be 180 stores in all at the Deerfields Townsquare mall, spread across three floors with the garden level reserved for casual dining. There’s provision for parking of up to 3,000 cars at the mall.

Major global brands

“There are leases running from up to 3 years to 20 years, depending on the size and the nature of the retail. Major global brands that have leased retail space at the mall, include Carrefour, Rolex, Starbucks, Nine West and Aldo,” said Tas at the time.

The Deerfields Townsquare mall has an easy accessibility to the freeway. The community mall development at Al Bahia complements the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council’s Revitalisation Master Plan for the emirate’s Shahama and Bahia areas.

By Himendra Mohan Kumar Staff Reporter

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