The Sharjah Government and Majid Al Futtaim Propertiesplan to build seven "community malls" in the emirate over the next two years in response to rising demand for local retail.
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Three of the malls, which are branded Matajer and are designed to service the local community, are due to open in the first half of next year. A further three or four are in the pipeline, slated for 2013 openings. The joint venture between Sharjah and Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) is considering rolling out the branded community mall concept throughout the rest of the UAE after that.
"At the moment we are not looking outside Sharjah, but once we get the concept completely up and operational, I think … we start looking beyond Sharjah," said Uday Bhasin, the chief financial officer for Sharjah Holding, a strategic partnership between the Government and MAF.
The first Matajer community mall was opened in Al Quoz in Sharjah in October with Carrefour Market as the anchor tenant and outlets such as McDonalds, Caribou Coffee and Planet Pharmacy. "It's exceeded our own expectations," said Mr Bhasin. "We really want Matajer to succeed as a neighbourhood concept."
Three more Matajer malls are set to be open in Al Juraina, Al Mirgab and Al Khan, all with Carrefour as the anchor tenant and each shopping centre is already 80 per cent leased.
"There's been great demand [from retailers] for the first one," said Mr Bhasin. "[The mix of retailers] will be based on demand for retailers in the area."
Throughout the UAE, international brands are expanding small convenience stores and local supermarkets to tap into changing habits of shoppers, who are visiting such stores more frequently and spending less per visit.
Mr Bhasin said both Dubai and Abu Dhabi municipalities had asked Sharjah Holding for details on the Matajer concept and its benefits to local retail.
"We have had approaches from Dubai and Abu Dhabi trying to understand how we have managed to do this and roll these malls out quickly," said Mr Bhasin.
Abu Dhabi is in the process of overhauling its own local retail sector by asking all grocery owners to upgrade stores to international standards by the end of the year or lose their licence.
Hundreds of small independent shopkeepers are expected to cease trading as they struggle to meet the cost of the revamps, which is estimated at up to Dh160,000 (US$43,500) per store.
Khalifa bin Braik, the vice president of Sharjah Holding, said the Matajer malls were encouraging leasing enquiries from local business. Ten per cent of mall space has been reserved for local retail companies.
"What we have done with Al Quoz, if you look at the layout of the mall, it's really community driven so we have been trying to get guys from the community," said Mr Braik. "I do not think we will take out the local community grocer but we will add to the service available."
Each Matajer mall will have about 1,800 square metres to to 7,500 sq metres of leasable retail space. The Al Quoz centre, which has 17 shops over a total leasable area of about 3,000 sq metres, aims to serve 5,000 households in the area.
Sharjah Holding forecasts a rise in retail demand to about 30 per cent above supply by 2013. It also said about 70 per cent of residents preferred malls to single stores.
