The Dubai Mall ( ar, دبي مول "Dubai Mall") is a shopping mall in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, wikt:دبي, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates#Major cities, most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 ...

. It is the second largest mall in the world after the

Iran Mall The Iran Mall ( fa, ایران مال) is the biggest shopping mall in the world in terms of area, and one of the largest commercial, cultural and social projects in the world, located in northwest Tehran, Iran, by Chitgar Lake. The multi-purpose ...

by total land area, and the 26th-largest shopping mall in the world by

gross leasable area In architecture, construction, and real estate, floor area, floor space, or floorspace is the area (measured as square feet or square metres) taken up by a building or part of it. The ways of defining "floor area" depend on what factors of the buil ...

, tying with

West Edmonton Mall West Edmonton Mall (WEM) is a shopping mall in Edmonton, Alberta, that is owned, managed, and operated by Triple Five Group. It is the second most visited mall in Canada, after the Toronto Eaton Centre in Toronto, followed by Metrotown Mall in ...

and

Fashion Island (Bangkok) Fashion Island is a shopping mall located on Ramintra Road, in Khan Na Yao District outskirt of Bangkok, Thailand. Fashion Island is currently ranked as the Twenty-sixth largest mall in the World along with ''Dubai Mall'' and ''West Edmonton M ...

—both of which are older than it. It has a total retail floor area of 502,000 square metres (5,400,000 sq ft). Located in

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (Middle East, The Middle East). It is ...

, it is part of the 20-billion-dollar

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ...

complex (called Downtown Dubai) adjacent to the iconic

Burj Khalifa The Burj Khalifa (; ar, برج خليفة, , Khalifa Tower), known as the Burj Dubai prior to its inauguration in 2010, is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is known for being the world’s tallest building. With a total height ...

, and includes over 1,200 shops. In 2011, it was the most visited building on the planet, attracting over 54 million visitors each year. Twice delayed, Dubai Mall opened on 4 November 2008, with about 1000 retailers, marking the world's second largest-ever mall opening in

retail Retail is the sale of goods and Service (economics), services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturing, manufacturers, dire ...

history behind

. However, it does not have the most gross leasable space, and is surpassed in that category by nineteen malls including the New South China Mall, which is the world's second-largest,

Golden Resources Mall Golden Resources Shopping Mall, or Jin Yuan (abbreviated from Chinese: 金源时代购物中心) is a major shopping mall located near the northwest Fourth Ring Road in Haidian District, Beijing, People's Republic of China. At the time of op ...

SM City North Edsa SM North EDSA (formerly SM City North EDSA, The SM Center North EDSA and The SM City North EDSA), and colloquially known as SM North, is a large shopping mall located in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines. It is the first SM Supermall in t ...

, and

SM Mall of Asia SM Mall of Asia, also abbreviated as SM MoA, or simply Mall of Asia or MoA, is a large shopping mall in the Philippines, located at Bay City, Pasay, Philippines, within the SM Central Business Park, a reclaimed area within Manila Bay, and the ...

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 visitors, and saw an increase in foot traffic by about 27 percent over 2009, despite the economic crisis (a consequence of real estate bubble burst). In 2012, Dubai Mall continued to hold the title of the 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 which welcomed over 52 million visitors in 2012, and Los Angeles which had 41 million visitors. The number also surpasses visitor arrivals to all landmark leisure destinations and theme parks in the world including

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

(39.2 million),

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...

(38 million), and

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the U.S. state, state ...

(22.5 million).

Description

At over (equivalent in size to more than 50 football fields), The Dubai Mall has a total internal floor area of and leasable space of , about the same as the

. 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 Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The ...

, in 2004, for ''Best Retail Development Scheme (Large)'' and ''Best Use of Lighting in a Retail Environment''The Dubai Mall
, ''Emaar'', retrieved 12 March 2006 and the Dubai Mall brochure collected three awards at the Summit Creative Awards 2005 in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

– the Gold award for: ''Best Art Direction / Graphic Design'', Silver award for ''Best 4-colour B2B Brochure'', and a ''Judges Special Recognition award''. The Mall also features the Olympic-sized Dubai Ice Rink for recreational skating and to watch the Emirates Ice Hockey League games and the

Emirates Emirates may refer to: * United Arab Emirates, a Middle Eastern country * Emirate, any territory ruled by an emir ** Gulf emirates, emirates located on the Persian Gulf ** Emirates of the United Arab Emirates, the individual emirates * The Emirat ...

A380 Experience, an

Airbus A380 The Airbus A380 is a large wide-body airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and only full-length double-deck jet airliner. Airbus studies started in 1988, and the project was annou ...

aircraft simulator and Experience will let visitors control the world's largest passenger aircraft around city scenes and famous landmarks. They can take off, land, ascend and do whatever they like with the help of a trainer.

Attractions

Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo inspired from "The Underwater Paradise"

The Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo by Emaar Entertainment, was designed by

Peddle Thorp Peddle Thorp is an Australian-based architecture, interior design, and urban planning firm, with offices located in Melbourne, Victoria, in Asia and in the Middle East. The Dubai Aquarium & Underwater Zoo inspired from "The Underwater Paradise ...

, inspired from "The Underwater Paradise". The aquarium, located in The Dubai Mall, showcases more than 300 species of marine animals, including

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachi ...

s and rays. The aquarium was awarded with the ‘Certificate of Excellence’ and won the ‘Images Most Admired Retailer of the Year – Leisure & Entertainment’ at Images RetailME Awards 2012.

VR Park Dubai

VR Park Dubai is an amusement park that was formerly operated as the Sega Republic. The 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 game Redemption games are typically arcade games of skill that reward the player proportionally to their score in the game. The reward most often comes in the form of tickets, with more tickets being awarded for higher scores. These tickets can th ...

s. Recent additions to Sega Republic rides include Xyclone, Robotnik, and Rope Rush a form of an 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. The theme park closed on 1 June 2017, after the license to the Sega theme expired. It later reopened in February 2018 as a theme park dedicated to

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), edu ...

under the name of VR Park Dubai.

Reel Cinemas

Reel Cinemas Cathay Organisation Holdings Limited is one of Singapore's leisure and entertainment groups. It has the first THX cinema hall and digital cinema in Singapore. The group has operations in Singapore and Malaysia. History Associated Theatre ...

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.

Hysteria

Hysteria is a

haunted house A haunted house, spook house or ghost house in ghostlore is a house or other building often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were otherwise connected with the prope ...

. It is decorated with special effects, fog lights, and strobe lights. The story of Hysteria revolves around a family whose child mysteriously disappeared. They believe that the guest knows where their child is, so they attempt to kidnap the guest or guests and subject them to a terrifying experience.

Dubai Dino

Dubai Dino is genuine fossil of

Diplodocus ''Diplodocus'' (, , or ) was a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaurs, whose fossils were first discovered in 1877 by S. W. Williston. The generic name, coined by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878, is a neo-Latin term derived from Greek δ ...

, a large, long-necked dinosaur. The total measurement of the Dino is over in height, and in length.

Dubai Creek Tower Replica

The Dubai Mall's Grand Atrium is home to a replica of the Dubai Creek Tower, which is currently under construction. The model gives a 3D rendition of the completed tower's architecture and grandeur.

KidZania

KidZania is an interactive children-sized edutainment theme park.

Construction

The Mall was built by a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

of Dutco

Balfour Beatty Balfour Beatty plc () is an international infrastructure group based in the United Kingdom with capabilities in construction services, support services and infrastructure investments. A constituent of the FTSE 250 Index, Balfour Beatty works acr ...

, Al Ghandi/ CCC and Turner Construction for

Emaar Properties Emaar Properties (Emaar Developments or simply Emaar) is an Emirati multinational real estate development company located in the United Arab Emirates. It is a public joint-stock company, listed on the Dubai Financial Market, and has a valuatio ...

and was scheduled to be completed in 2006, claiming to be the size of 50 "international-sized football pitches". The mall opened in 2008. Most of the workers who constructed the mall were

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

n, Pakistani,

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...

i and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

guest worker Foreign workers or guest workers are people who work in a country other than one of which they are a citizen. Some foreign workers use a guest worker program in a country with more preferred job prospects than in their home country. Guest worker ...

Metro Link

In December 2012, Emaar Properties announced the completion of the Metro Link, an elevated, air-conditioned footbridge that connects the Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall Metro station to the mall.

Expansion

In June 2013, The Dubai Mall commenced phase one of its expansion plan by increasing the total retail floor area by . so as to accommodate more visitors. The project was completed in 2018.

World records and achievements

*Second largest mall in the world by the total land area of . *20th-largest mall by Gross Leasable Area (GLA) of 350,000 m². *World's largest acrylic panel (Aquarium) inside Dubai Mall, which is ( wide × high × thick and weighing ). *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 in the previous 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 the previous 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 the previous year, 2011. *In 2017, Dubai Mall unveiled the world's largest OLED screen.

Incidents

* On 25 February 2010 the aquarium (which holds sharks) 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 was brought under control within an hour by the police. * On 31 December 2015 the mall was evacuated because of a major fire at The Address Hotel, which is adjacent to the mall's compound. * In December 2016, British TV presenter

Richard Hammond Richard Mark Hammond (born 19 December 1969) is an English journalist, television presenter, mechanic, and writer. He is best known for co-hosting the BBC Two motoring programme '' Top Gear'' from 2002 until 2015 with Jeremy Clarkson and J ...

drove a tank into the Dubai Mall as part of a stunt for ''

The Grand Tour ''The Grand Tour'' is a British motoring television series, created by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, James May and Andy Wilman, made for Amazon exclusively for its online streaming service Amazon Prime Video, and premiered on 18 November ...

''. * On 24 April 2017 a power outage occurred, causing the mall to go into a blackout for 90 minutes. No other nearby areas were affected. * In November 2019, due to heavy rain, large areas of the mall were flooded. * All malls in Dubai (other than those selling essential goods) were forced to close starting 25 March 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The Dubai Mall was eligible to reopen 24 April 2020, but delayed its reopening until May.

In popular culture

The Dubai Mall was featured in the documentary show called '' Megastructures'' that aired on the

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney General ...

. The mall was also featured in the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

programme, ''The Apprentice'' (UK series nine) and ''Week 5: Dubai Discount buying'', where the candidates had to purchase items for the least amount of prices by utilising their negotiation skills.BBC, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b020xrpd The mall also appears in the TV show, the Grand tour.

Gallery

File:Dubai Mall-Dubai3161.JPG, Dubai Mall's Gold Souk File:Dubai Fountain 4.JPG, Dubai Mall as seen with

Dubai Fountain The Dubai Fountain is a choreographed fountain system located on the 12 hectare (30 acre) artificial Burj Khalifa Lake, at the center of the Downtown Dubai development in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It was designed by WET Design, a California-ba ...

s File:Dubai mall fashion avenue.JPG, Dubai Mall Fashion Avenue File:Dubai Mall Dinosaur.jpg, Dubai

Dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

File:Dubai MALL Waterfalls.jpg, Indoor water fountain in the Dubai Mall File:Dubai Mall inside6.jpg, The Dubai Mall indoor File:081106 Dubai Mall - souk.jpg, The Dubai Mall's gold souk File:Dubai Mall 2022 all.jpg, The Dubai Mall from At The Top of Burj Khalifa Observatory File:Dubai Mall outside.jpg, The Dubai Mall and

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dubai Mall, The Shopping malls in Dubai Shopping malls established in 2008 Architecture in Dubai