Sahara Centre's 'Building Excitement' tenant meeting attracts tremendous response

The 'Building Excitement' tenant meet was held recently at Holiday Inn Resorts in Sharjah, UAE, and was attended by the mall's key retailers.

"We are delighted by the overwhelming response to the Sahara Centre tenant meeting. It provided us an ideal platform to share important information with our valued tenants, and to update them on the various plans for the mall's upcoming opening, scheduled for early 2002," said Mr. Raymond J. Casey, General Manager, Sahara Centre.

"We look forward to working with our tenants towards a common goal- that of promoting Sahara Centre as the ultimate shopping and leisure destination in the UAE," he added.

The attendees were presented with a brief overview of the upcoming mall, its key features and unique entertainment offerings. The meeting also served to update tenants on leasing operations and marketing progress.

Commenting on the meeting, Mr. Steve Vickerstaff, Regional Development Manager, M.H. Alshaya Co., said, "The meeting was both motivational and informative at the same time. It also provided a unique opportunity to meet the other tenants and discuss new ways of working together to provide a high- quality shopping experience to our customers. We are bringing some fantastic brands to Sharjah, and Sahara Centre is the perfect environment to launch them."

Another topic of focus was the dynamic marketing plans and strategies for the mall's opening.

"With Sahara Centre, our objective is to build a state-of-the-art retail facility supported by the latest technologies. In keeping with this, the mall will be equipped with special traffic counters in each outlet, and a fibre optic-enabled, digital network. Plans to launch a dedicated Sahara Centre website are well underway," said Ms. Pam Bryson, Marketing Manager, Sahara Centre.

According to Mr. Yasin Al Khatib, Assistant Managing Director, Grand Stores, "The meeting proved to be very informative as it provided a complete update on the mall's opening, besides covering other relevant issues like leasing, tenant coordination and construction progress. I am confident that the Sahara Centre will become the emirate's leading shopping destination."

Sahara Centre, which comprises approximately 500,000 square feet of retail space, of which over 85 per cent is already leased, will also introduce several premier local, regional and international retail brands for the first time in the region.

Anchors for Sahara Centre include Debenhams, the UK retail department store which forms part of the AlShaya Group, and features international brands like Liz Claiborne, Oasis, Evan and Laura Ashley. Century Cinemas, which will operate the largest cinema complex in the UAE, and Adventureland, the largest indoor entertainment complex in the Middle East, are the other key anchors in the mall.