JEDDAH, 6 December 2004 — Shopping malls mushrooming all over the Kingdom are reflection of growing consumerism. Makkah Governor Prince Abdul Majeed, who made the reference during the opening of Sultan Mall on Prince Sultan Road in northwest Jeddah on Saturday, called for facilitating a sustained flow of investment. “Create more opportunities for investment from both Saudis and foreigners,” he said after touring the spacious mall.
“It’s encouraging that investments are flowing into commercial and other projects in a big way. After all, funds that have left the Kingdom should come back to where they belong,” the governor said.
He said malls of the size of Sultan Mall would be the need of the rapidly growing number of discerning consumers Kingdomwide. “We’ll need many more malls, especially in high population growth areas,” he said, and described the Sultan Mall as one of the “outstanding works” in terms of quality of construction, layout of outlets, and size and space.
Zaad Group has initiated and implemented the SR375 million project, which is developed by Ammar International Company and managed by Ariz for Investment and Marketing. The mall, which occupies 38,000 sq. m. area has parking space for 500 cars.
“Sultan Mall is the first major real-estate investment project for the Zaad Group,” Prince Abdullah ibn Turki Al-Saud said, speaking on behalf of the group.
“Sultan Mall has attracted showrooms of many international brand names, including Paris Gallery, Extra, Lazurdi for Gold & Jewelry, Feel-Free, Swatch and Giordano,” said Khaled Al-Seraibi, Ammar company chairman.
The mall has many restaurants and coffee shops, including Burger King, Kudu and Al-Baik.
“Since its soft opening a few months ago, the mall had been hosting many social welfare activities and charity programs,” said Turaif ibn Farooq Trabzoni, the mall’s executive manager. It held a forum exclusively for women that was attended by 200 women, a photographic exhibition in cooperation with King Abdul Aziz University’s faculty of environment science.
“More malls is good news for consumers,” said Khaled Alsaggaf, a businessman. “They will generate intense competition and make prices more competitive to the advantage of consumers,” he added.
