According to the latest figures in the retail real estatemarket, the sector is growing faster in the Gulf than in anyother region. The business website AME Info reports that by2010, nearly 50 million square meters of gross leasable area(GLA) will be available in the area, with the UAE and SaudiArabia taking up 44% and 30% of the pie, respectively. By2009, Dubai is also expected to have the highest retailspending in the GCC, beating out Saudi Arabia, despite itssmaller population. The city is gearing up for this increaseby building giant malls, such as the Dubai Mall, which isbeing hailed as the largest in the world. Hoping to cash inon this growing trend is the ABC Group—operators of the ABCdepartment stores and malls—which is scheduled to open two stores this year in Bahrainand Amman. From the original store that was located in old Beirut onBab Idriss Street in 1936, the ABC Group
