A palace of excess in a city obsessed with excessiveness, the Dubai Mall is a colossus of spending, enticing people to stay, eat, shop, and leave with their wallets a lot lighter.
Like most mega-malls, this one is carved into about a dozen different themed zones to make it a little more human scale and to group complementary retailers together.
Emphasizing the mall's place as a day-long destination and not just a quick shopping trip, it includes an aquarium, a theme park, a movie theater, an ice skating rink, and other entertainment features.
Over the decades there have been a succession of "world's largest malls" designed to separate shoppers from their money. While it used to be years or decades between crown changes before, things are different now that Dubai and the rest of the developing world are in the game. Don't be surprised to see something larger in a matter of years.
Developer: Dutco Balfour Beatty
Developer: Al Ghandi/CCC
At the time of its completion, this was the world's largest mall.
Part of the mall features a retractable roof.
Superlatives:
This mall has the first branch of Paris' famous Galleries Lafayette in the Middle East.
World's largest mall.
World's largest gold bazaar.
World's musical fountain.
Largest department store in the United Arab Emirates (Galleries Lafayette at 192,000 square feet)
Stories above ground: 3
Stories below ground: 2
Stores: Approximately 1,200.
Site size: 278 acres
Floor space: 5,900,000 square feet.
Retail space: 3,770,000 square feet.
Theater seats: 3,000.
Steel used: 7,300 tons
Parking spaces: 14,000
2004: Dubai Mall joint venture formed.
2006: Original opening date for this mall (missed).
New York, United States
gaurav mehta
Five stars.