By – Mohamed Kamal
Al-Futtaim Group has announced the launch of the new expansion of Cairo Festival City Mall, called “Festival Avenue” in the heart of New Cairo. The groundbreaking for the new expansion was carried out by Mr. Omar Al-Futtaim, Vice Chairman of Al-Futtaim Group, in the presence of the group’s management, several public figures, representatives of major retail brands in Egypt, and a group of media professionals and representatives from Egypt and the region.
The major expansion marked the celebration of the six-year anniversary of Cairo Festival City Mall and its success story in Egypt. The new expansion, with investment exceeding two billion EGP, will add a gross leasable area of 22,000 sqm to the existing mall, making it the largest mall in Egypt.
The event is an important day in the history of Al-Futtaim Group’s investments in Egypt, specifically Cairo Festival City Mall. The announcement reaffirms the group’s vision for Egypt as one of the promising markets that has witnessed a huge economic and social boom over the past years, to become an important market for retail trade.
Timothy Earnest, Group Director – Al-Futtaim Malls spoke enthusiastically about the expansion, explaining that Cairo Festival City Mall has become a gateway to New Cairo and the hub of many distinguished events. He also pointed out that the new expansion called Festival Avenue, offers an exceptional and unique experience for customers by presenting a new retail concept in Egypt of international standards.
“Since the establishment of Cairo Festival City Mall, it has proven to be one of the most successful investments of the Al-Futtaim Group in the Egyptian market. Since its opening in 2013 and until 2019, the mall has managed to reach the highest employment rate, providing about 5,000 direct job opportunities for Egyptians, and 15,000 indirect opportunities,” he added.
Al-Futtaim Group aims to achieve strategic goals by enhancing Cairo Festival City Mall and its contribution to the development of the retail sector in Egypt. The most important among these goals is the increase in the field of shopping tourism, that witnesses an increasing boom in the world. To achieve these goals, Cairo Festival City Mall seeks to enhance the cooperation with the tourism sector, tourism companies and airline operators to coordinate attractive programs for tourists with direct presence in Festival Avenue. Cairo Festival City Mall continues to participate in global retail platforms through international conferences such as RECON and MAPIC.
Commenting at the event, Hayssam Hajjar, General Manager, Cairo Festival City Mall stated, “Our plans will address the demand from retail brands wanting to be based at Cairo Festival City Mall, ranked the leading shopping destination in Egypt for the third year in a row, according to TripAdvisor. The mall continues to deliver unique experiences for our retailers and customers, who accounted for 23 million visitors in 2019 alone.”
“The new expansion will be seamlessly integrated with the current mall, including easy navigation, airy corridors, open sightlines and plenty of natural sunlight through a state-of-the-art 5,300sqm skylight. Signature services will be offered for shopper convenience including VIP Valet Services, shop and drop services, free high-speed Wi-Fi, and many other services that provide seamless and integrated experience for our customers,” he concluded.
The new expansion will add 80 new stores, including numerous international brands and 15 food and beverage outlets. With the new Festival Avenue, Al-Futtaim Group will achieve added value to the existing mall – which has won three RECON Awards in 2019 – as well as making radical changes in the retail market by providing diverse options for shoppers from stores and premium brands.
Festival Avenue will evolve the scope of the existing mall with a variety of indoor and outdoor alfresco dining options offering local and international cuisines, with an international 1,600 sqm Food Hall. By adding over 1,000 additional parking spaces, the mall will be able to hold 7,800 cars for shopping convenience – providing an unparalleled shopping and lifestyle experience to Cairo Festival City Mall.
To provide a global destination for shopping and entertainment, an elevated entertainment complex will be made available within the new expansion for games and leisure activities for all age groups and will introduce a new concept of entertainment to Egypt.
Festival Avenue brings to Cairo Festival City Mall, new luxury brands to truly elevate shoppers’ experience with a range of products from watches and jewelry to men’s and women’s fashion. The group announced the arrival of new much sought-after brands as part of the expansion with big names such as Burberry, Salvatore Ferragamo, Moschino, ZZegna, Tod’s, OMEGA, Le Collezione, Red Valentino, Versace Couture, Karl Lagerfield, Cole Haan, Furla, Roberto Cavalli Sport, Fila, Nike and many others. For several of these brands Festival Avenue will be bringing them to the Egypt market for the first time.
2020 will see the launch of some distinguished services in line with the launch of the new brands in Festival Avenue, including Gift Card programs and luxurious concierge services, in addition to the launch of a mobile application, to combine traditional retail and modern technology.
Twenty minutes from Cairo International Airport and thirty minutes from Cairo Tower, Cairo Festival City Mall serves a population of over five million in the primary and secondary trade areas. According to latest figures from Global Retail Strategies, New Cairo City is expected to experience a 15% per annum growth rate in population for the coming years. Strategically situated to the east of Cairo’s Ring Road, Cairo Festival City is easily accessible to neighborhoods such as Maadi, Heliopolis and Nasr City.