Luxury shopping in Dubai

The exclusive travel and shopping destination in the United Arab Emirates offers all the very best in Spanish fashion.

A luxury haven for tourists, Dubai is the most populous of the UAE’s seven emirates, where the traditional souk markets around the bay rub shoulders with some of the world’s most exclusive fashion stores.

Dubai Bay divides the emirate into two parts: Bur Dubai and Deira. Bur Dubai is a reminder of the city as it once was, with historic buildings like Saeed Al Maktoum House and the Museum of Dubai. Deira has the city’s busiest market, the Gold Souk, with more than 300 little shops selling gold and jewellery.

However, the city’s architectural gems are just one reason to visit the emirate, which in recent years has become synonymous with beautiful beaches and luxury shopping.

Luxury and excess in the emirate’s department stores
If you are looking for the top fashion brands, Bulevar Emirates Towers is the place to go. The shopping centre has exclusive boutiques including Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci and Jimmy Choo.

Mall of Emirates is the world’s third largest shopping centre and the city’s leading mall as its 400 shops confirm. Spanish brands to be found here include Inditex’s Bershka, Zara, Stradivarius, Oysho, Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear and Zara Home. Other chains include Mango, 13 Búho Street, Pepe Jeans, Pablosky and Camper. Loewe and Carrera y Carrera add a final flourish to a long list. Inside the Mall of Emirates, Harvey Nichols, a very glamorous department store group, sells the sophisticated footwear of Pedro García.

One of the city’s most modern shopping malls is Dubai Festival City, in the port area. Spanish brands with boutiques here include Cortefiel, Pedro del Hierro and Tuc Tuc, and one of the many retail corners Pablosky has in the city. Not to be missed is the Ibn Battuta Mall, which has a Florentino boutique selling menswear, and Garden Center, where kids’ brand Gocco has a franchise store.

Last but not least on the list of shopping malls is the exclusive Burjuman Centre, which has a Loewe boutique as well as chains like Women´s Secret, Mango, Zara and Massimo Dutti, Pablosky and Carrera y Carrera. This is the Dubai location of New York icon Saks Fifth Avenue, which sells sophisticated footwear designs by Manolo Blahnik, and the deluxe cosmetics of Natura Bissé.

Coming soon...
In view of the emirate’s huge potential, a host of Spanish brands have short-term plans to open in Dubai, and footwear brands in particular. A case in point is Castañer which plans to open its first shop in the city before the end of 2008. Pons Quintana also hopes to get established here, while Kowalski plans to open a shop in the next two years.

In a bid to enter the Gulf markets, around 30 top Spanish brands will be taking part in the Fashion from Spain exhibition in the Shafina Hall of Dubai’s Jumeirah Beach Hotel on October 21 and 22, 2008.

Photos of the city: Dubai Department of Trade and Tourism.