However, as much as it learns from its success stories, Dubai also has its way of learning from its failures, and retail is no exception; there are several retail complexes in within master developments that are all underperforming, with tenants complaining about lack of footfall, and high rentals. Accordingly, let us explore some of the mistakes that have been made along with the major lessons we ought to learn.

When developing a retail destination, we need to consider the type of outing the destination will attract. Such outing can be mapped across the nature of the outing and the social settings of the outings:

Another approach to look into the mapping of a retail attraction is the anticipated frequency of visits along with the positioning of the pricing:

A retail attraction needs to be clear about where it is to be positioned among these maps, and consistently deliver on this positioning. A lack of clarity along with inconsistencies in the delivery is where we have been seeing the retail mistakes in Dubai.

1-The Frequently Affordable Became Inaccessible & Unaffordable:

The most important attribute here is the space of each individual retail outlet, more specifically, the enormous size of the retail space allocated by the developer, with shops starting at 5000 sqft. It is a massive undertaking for a tenant to fill these seats, especially when they are in the business of relaxing, high frequency, and affordable outing, let alone bearing the cost of the fit out. The master developers have not been catering to such concepts, think of a mamas and papas store, a small “hole-in-the-wall” charming pub or a tiny two-table Chinese restaurant, well, we don’t see these in new developments, because the master developer does not cater for them. And this needs to stop.

2-Seasonal Destinations Need Seasonal Treatment:
It is no secret that an outdoor space in Dubai is very seasonal, hence, the tenant is taking a chance to make their numbers during the high season to compensate for the low numbers during the low season. However, developers and landlords renting such seasonal outlets need to also carry some of the weight. Smaller tenants with smaller retail concepts need to also be able to afford their own outdoor space, and that is what we have been seeing in Global Village, where the tenant only pays for the season that they’re able to operate outdoors.

3-New Destinations Need Initial Critical Mass:
At one-point one master developer insisted on having tenants with only new and original concepts, that is a unique strategy if the shops were small and affordable, but to be original and launch 300 seat restaurant is a huge undertaking. And to have that across your entire tenant mix is a huge risk on the landlord as well. You need to launch with established anchor outlets to create enough critical mass to the destination, this is needed to help sustain your smaller original concepts.

If we look at the JLT model, we see how it has become an unofficial ethnic cuisine destination, we see that smaller shops allowed for entrepreneurs with retail concepts to test and learn with ethnic food. Hence, we see in almost every major city, retail destinations that cater to such ethnic attractions, with retail markets such as Little Italy and China Town. However, still in Dubai, retail means big and inaccessible, hence, we don’t have charming little Italy, we have Hessa’s intimidating highway with little Lebanon hiding behind an exit we’re all worried to miss as we are looking to eat our daily manoushe from Allo Beirut, Barabr or Farouj Al Abduallh. Think about it, instead of having accessible, pedestrian friendly, Lebanese food market, like little Italy in New York, we have inaccessible massive Lebanese restaurants next to gas station.

On another note, Boutique malls have been very successful and extremely popular by both tenants and customers alike, for several reasons, ease of accessibility, from parking to arriving at the desired shop, smaller shops, unique community locations, cheaper rentals.

High end and special purpose food courts have also been very successful and desirable as well, Timeout food court and Depachika food courts, are also another example of a small plug and play shops.