DSF impact: Dubai malls open until 2am

In a bid to keep the spirit of the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) alive, the Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment  (DFRE), an agency of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) and the organisers of DSF, announced that the main shopping malls in the emirate will extend their timings until 2am.

The new timings will continue till the end of DSF, until February 2.

The malls are The Dubai Mall, Mall of the Emirates, Deira City Centre, Mirdif City Centre and Dubai Festival City Mall.

While retail outlets at the Dubai Mall will be open from 10am to 2am, the food outlets will operate from 10am to 3am.

The Mall of the Emirates, Deira City Centre, Mirdif City Centre and Dubai Festival City Mall will extend the timings of their retail outlets until 1am during the weekdays and until 2am on weekends. Food outlets at these four malls will be open from 10am to 2am during weekdays and 10am to 3am on weekends.

The initiative to extend mall hours is aimed at further enhancing the festive ambience at the malls which have been attracting large numbers of shoppers since the start of the 19th edition of DSF.

The move also comes in anticipation of an increase in visitors to Dubai from neighbouring countries over the next few weeks, due to the mid-term school holidays.

“We always look for ways to enhance the shopping experience for our DSF visitors. With shopping malls in Dubai becoming more of standalone destinations rather than just a shopping centre, we are sure that extending mall hours till the wee hours of the day allows shoppers more time to shop and have fun, and at the same time enhances retail sales across the participating shopping malls,” said Laila Mohd Suhail, DFRE CEO.

“We want families and visitors to avail themselves  of special offers and discounts offered by thousands of retail outlets in the malls and share the extraordinary experience of shopping in Dubai during DSF in a true embodiment of the festival  theme ‘Shop at your Best’.”

The extended mall hours is expected to give a boost to the retail sector, which has been recorded high sales during DSF.  In 2012, DSF attracted 4.3 million visitors to the city who spent a total of Dh14.7 billion. Of this, shopping alone accounted for Dh8.9 billion.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.