Majid Al Futtaim at 30: The Next Frontier, a Mall in the Forest

In the scorching heat of a Dubai summer, where temperatures routinely climb past 120 degrees Fahrenheit and air-conditioned malls serve as essential sanctuaries, Majid Al Futtaim is proposing something radical: a shopping destination where nature isn’t kept outside, but invited in. Thirty years after opening the Middle East’s first modern shopping mall, Majid Al Futtaim is marking the milestone with its most audacious concept yet. Ghaf Woods Mall, the company’s 30th mall, will be the region’s first forest-integrated retail destination. The project is a $4.2 billion development featuring more than 1 million trees woven throughout a super-regional shopping district on Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road.“We’re excited to unveil the plans to add the 30th super-regional flagship destination,” Khalifa Bin Braik, chief executive officer of Majid Al Futtaim Asset Management, said. “This is a newly reimagined, first-of-its-kind, retail shopping district that’s going to be immersed and integrated within the forest living signature theme.”It’s a striking departure from the hermetically sealed retail palaces that have defined Dubai’s shopping culture for three decades, and it signals where Majid Al Futtaim believes the future of regional retail is heading. A rendering of the Ghaf Wood’s “Forest Mall” concept. “Ghaf Woods Mall marks a bold new era in

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