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Dubai: Convenience is no longer enough to draw Dubai residents to community malls, with developers now competing on experience, dining, outdoor spaces and the quality of time people spend close to home, according to Shamal CEO Abdulla Binhabtoor.
Speaking to Gulf News at The Grand, Shamal Holding’s new community retail and lifestyle destination in Nad Al Sheba Gardens, Binhabtoor said digital services have already raised expectations around ease and convenience, leaving physical destinations to offer something different.
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“The digital world has solved for convenience. So we’re not here trying to solve for convenience. Convenience is almost an expectation, especially in Dubai,” he said.
“In Dubai, the expectation for experience and for a frictionless environment is very, very high.”
Competing in the physical world
Binhabtoor said the focus for community destinations is increasingly on what he described as the “analog world”, where residents spend time, meet people and build experiences around places close to home.
“The analog world is where people develop memories, where people have a physical experience and physical engagement, and this is what, for us, The Grand is here to solve for.”
The Grand forms part of the wider Nad Al Sheba Gardens development and is opening in phases after its first phase began on August 19.
The destination is fully leased and brings together retail, dining, wellness, healthcare and everyday services, with Waitrose and Partners serving as its anchor supermarket.
Binhabtoor said Shamal wanted The Grand to open while residents were already beginning to move into Nad Al Sheba Gardens, instead of waiting for the wider community to reach full occupancy.
“We want to make sure that The Grand and this experience grow with the neighbourhood from the first move-ins.”
He said the residential experience extends beyond the home itself and includes the wider neighbourhood and the services available within it.
More reasons to stay close to home
Shamal chief noted that Dubai residents increasingly want strong dining, retail and leisure options within their own communities, while still expecting the level of experience associated with larger destinations.
“When we think of the next generation of destinations, we think, especially in the UAE and in Dubai, they must be hospitality-led,” he said.
“By that we mean they must be high on experience.”
He said people want to spend more time near home while still having access to a wider mix of offerings in one place.
“They want to be near home, but then they want that elevated experience near home, and they want a place that has more than one type of offering. They want that diversity.”
The Grand’s tenant mix includes Waitrose and Partners, MMI, Heart Cottage Lane, Maple Bear Nursery, Al Jaber Optical and Fixperts.
Dining, cafe, bakery, wellness and lifestyle operators joining the destination include Tashas, Somewhere, Home Bakery, Kokoro, Blu Pizzeria, Bake My Day, Daima, Staywell Pharmacy and Tips & Toes.
Fitcode and American Hospital are expected to complete the health and wellness offering in early 2027.
Homegrown operators shaped the project
Homegrown food concepts were an important part of the plan for The Grand, with some operators involved while the project was still being developed.
“A lot of the partners you see around who are operating, they have subscribed to this vision when this vision was still on paper,” he said.
“Some of them have contributed to the design because they know better about their consumers and how they want to serve their consumers.”
He said Shamal expects most visitors to come from the wider Nad Al Sheba area, although the company also expects some dining concepts to draw people from other parts of Dubai.
“We’re here to cater not only to the Nad Al Sheba Gardens community, but beyond that, and the wider Nad Al Sheba,” he said.
One area Binhabtoor expects to become a key part of The Grand is its garden and shaded terrace, where food and beverage outlets will face an outdoor dining area.
“What I am really looking forward to very soon is us opening the garden and the terrace in the back, where we’ll have all of our F&B outlets facing the terrace in an outdoor environment that is shaded,” he said.
Shamal’s design approach reflects the amount of time residents spend outside during Dubai’s cooler months, according to Binhabtoor.
“Most of us comfortably spend six to eight months out of the year outdoors,” he said.
“When, especially in the community, we want to dine, we want to be in an outdoor environment. We want to be close to nature.”
Designing years ahead
Binhabtoor said one of the bigger challenges for developers in Dubai is building projects today that will still meet consumer expectations several years later.
“When we set out to deliver places, we design them today to be delivered in a number of years,” he said.
“We want to continue to raise the bar, but not now. In two years, in three years, in five years down the line, when things are delivered, that’s a challenge, but it’s also the fun part of what we do.”
