76,000+ visitors on opening day

85% of stores operational from day one

Dubai, UAE, April 6th 2010: Majid Al Futtaim Properties' latest development, Mirdif City Centre, has broken customer footfall records with over one million visitors in the first three weeks, and more than 76,000 customers visiting on the first day of trading.

The mall's opening on March 16th attracted crowds of visitors eager to see Mirdif City Centre's new stores, leisure and entertainment options on a day that set a new benchmark for shopping mall openings in the region. The excitement hasn't stopped as people have continued to flock to the new destination.

Yousif Al Ali, Vice President of Mirdif City Centre, said:  "We always knew that the launch of Mirdif City Centre would be big, but to get over a million customers in the first three weeks is quite exceptional - these numbers are a testament to the excellent retail mix, dining options and never-seen-before leisure attractions that Mirdif City Centre offers."

Mirdif City Centre opened to much anticipation with over 85% of retailers open for business from day one. Amongst these retailers are new to the region Pottery Barn, Miss Selfridge, American Eagle, Decathalon, and Office Depot, as well as anchor tenants such as Debenhams, Homecentre, Forever 21 and an impressive 11,000 sqm Carrefour.

Nicolas Allan, General Manager at Carrefour Mirdif City Centre said: "During the first 5 days alone, more than 200,000 visitors came to the new Carrefour, and there to welcome them was our 700 strong team. Customers were greeted with a range of great promotions and more than 45, 000 regular items."

M.H. Alshaya Co., one of the Middle East's leading retailers, reinforced the positive reception of consumers to Mirdif City Centre. The company has opened 29 brands within the mall, including the Middle East launch of three iconic American brands, American Eagle, Pottery Barn and Pottery Barn Kids.  M.H. Alshaya Co. confirmed that since day one its stores have seen strong trading and reaction to the new brands has been extremely positive.

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About Mirdif City Centre: 
Mirdif City Centre is the latest regional shopping mall in the UAE by Majid Al Futtaim Properties, the leading shopping centre pioneer in the MENA region. Mirdif City Centre offers a spectacular architectural backdrop to a very impressive list of retail and entertainment concepts - many of which are new to the area.

Strategically located on Emirates Road and Tripoli Street along Dubai's Eastern growth corridor, Mirdif City Centre will offer easy access with 12 entry and exit points at different levels of its 7,000 vehicle car park. The shopping mall is the first in the region to follow ecologically friendly and sustainability compliant construction techniques from its early design stages and is in the process of acquiring a Gold LEED certification.

With a gross leasable area extending to 196,000 square metres, it will be home to 430 world class stores and a market mix that includes brands from retailers in key categories such as convenience, service, fashion, home, electronics, entertainment and leisure, giving shoppers plenty of choice. Key anchor stores include Carrefour, Cinestar Cinemas, Debenhams, Emax, Centrepoint, Home Centre and Fitness First.

The Centre's entertainment includes some new and unique leisure concepts such as a special children's 'edutainment' centre - Playnation with an indoor 'iFLY' sky diving experience, a 12 lane bowling alley, Soccer Circus Dubai, an Aquaplay area for younger children and a 10 screen multiplex cinema.

The AED 3 Billion centre was funded by Majid Al Futtaim Properties and Emirates National Bank of Dubai.

About Majid Al Futtaim Properties:
Majid Al Futtaim Properties is the leading developer of shopping malls, hotels and mixed-use projects across the Middle East and North Africa. An ambitious growth and marketing strategy has enabled the company to develop and manage the best retail and leisure centres that dominate their respective trade areas across the region.

It has ten operating centres totalling over 925,000 square metres of GLA including 5 centres in UAE, 2 in Egypt, 2 in Oman and 1 in Bahrain. By 2015, the company  plans to double its portfolio GLA to over 2.2 million square metres with 14 new projects planned in the UAE, Oman, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Qatar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

Welcoming over 120 million customers a year, the shopping centres under the Majid Al Futtaim Properties portfolio have revolutionised the shopping mall industry over the past 17 years with breakthrough developments such as Ski Dubai (the first indoor Ski Resort in the Middle East), Mall of the Emirates (the first shopping resort in the Middle East) and the popular City Centre franchise that has been exported across the region. 

The hospitality business focuses on the development and asset management of hotels attached to shopping malls or within master-planned communities.

For additional information, kindly visit www.majidalfuttaim.com

For more information, please contact:
Georgia Thompson / Jonathan Tudor
Polaris Public Relations
Mobile: 050 29 85613 / 050289 4699
Email: g.thompson@polaris-me.com / j.tudor@polaris-me.com 

© Press Release 2010