Naheel Abdullah Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — Investors and owners of malls said the sector is considered to be one of the basic pillars that many commercial companies working in retail are depending on. The reason for this is that malls provide distinctive opportunities for expansion, apart from attracting the largest number of individual shoppers and families. Malls occupy an important place in the Kingdom's major cities. They have become a refuge for those looking forward to shopping, recreation and spending an enjoyable time in an indoor and secure atmosphere. The chairman of the malls committee at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) and CEO of Red Sea Mall, Muhammad Alawi, said: “Malls base their present and future plans mainly on strategic alliances with big brands. This enables them to provide more choices to shoppers under one roof. “To keep these strategic trends going, more international brands will be opened in the Kingdom." Alawi said there are over 2,000 malls all over the Kingdom with an estimated worth of over SR50 billion. “Citizens look forward to visiting malls that meet all their needs and those of their families under one roof and in a warm atmosphere that provides them with a wide variety of prominent brands. “This is apart from the recreational activities, especially those for children.” Alawi said the malls sector in the Kingdom has been responsible for setting up many shopping centers over the past 10 years. “The cost for constructing them has exceeded several billion riyals," he said. A single city now has many malls and this has encouraged the owners and managers of these malls to come up with new methods for displaying their goods to attract more customers. This will benefit the mall as well as the owners of brands. Khaled Barayyan, an investor in the retail sector, said: “The volume of sales of my shops in the malls is now double that of my shops in the open traditional markets.” Barayyan attributed this to several reasons, including the increasing number of shoppers at malls. He said: “Malls are striving to provide the requirements for the family under one roof. They have become places for shopping, recreation and for completing official paperwork. “There is no need for a person to go to several places to get his errands done and those of his family and children.” Barayyan said the opening of sections or branches for some government authorities in the malls, such as the Passport Department and the Ministry of Civil Service, helps attract visitors to the malls at different times. “This has made malls the focus of traders locally and internationally. We have also noticed that the majority of brands have become available in several malls in the same area.”
