ABC opened its much-trumpeted 120,000m2 shopping mall in November and there are five more massive retail projects in the pipeline – the Habtoor Group’s Metropolitan City Center in Sin al-Fil, ADMIC’s Geant in Dora and Carrefour Dbayeh, Solidere’s Souqs, and the Landmark mall, also in the BCD. But what does this mall craze mean for Lebanon’s retailers and shoppers? If the reaction to ABC’s latest venture is anything to go by, malls are impacting on us in more ways than one. “The ABC mall is a brave step,” said Mark Jones, a consultant for Cushman & Wakefield’s representative office in Beirut. “It is hard to change shopping habits, but introducing this mall means that one is reshaping the way people shop in Lebanon – from high street to indoor shopping and it should pave the way for the other malls.” Shopping malls, albeit, smaller ones, are not new to Beirut.
