The growth of the retail business in Dubai and in the entire Gulf is an interesting case study by any standard.

The Middle East Council of Shopping Centres — in a beautiful recent publication called ‘Souks to Malls’ — has traced this remarkable journey, especially in the last 20 years.

Many long-term residents would not have forgotten that there was a time when most of their shopping needs were met by the street shops of Deira and Bur Dubai, or the Central Market and Electra Road in Abu Dhabi.

The subsequent retail explosion is closely linked to the rapid growth of the mall culture taking centre stage in the lives of residents.

A lot of time and effort went into creating unique retail and entertainment offerings to please all segments of society. But beyond all the hard work and planning of developers, one indisputable factor for the success of malls here was actually beyond their control — the weather.

Eight months of the year, the air-conditioned environment helped create a refuge, and a new kind of public or community space.

The recent innovation in Dubai of open-air districts or shopping areas turns the conventional wisdom of the need for shelter from the elements on its head. A whole bunch of such developments has quietly emerged in the last three to four years — The Beach at JBR, The JBR Walk, Citywalk in Jumeirah, Al Wasl Square, Boxpark and — soon to come — The Pointe at the Palm and Dubai Design district.

All of these developments have taken the outdoor route, creating beautiful and attractive spaces. In addition, there is whole slew of street-side shopping options that have popped up around Beauty Bay in Downtown Dubai.

But do open air shopping centres or malls work?

A review of some which have been operating for the last few years indicates clearly that the four or five months of high summer preside over a huge drop of more than 50 per cent in trading of services, retail shopping and F&B. If you have a business model which makes so much business in the cooler months that you can reach your required annual targets even without any support from the hotter month revenues, you will be fine.

If you can’t sustain this summer dip, you are going to be in trouble.

Of course, it has also been a learning curve for many developers too, who suddenly find themselves facing this situation. The question is: How many of them are prepared to work around the highly skewed sales behaviour when they are designing their leasing packages?

Not much thought seems to have been given to this. As the number of open air developments increases, it calls for a creative look both for tenants and landlords, so that they come up with a winning formula for everyone.

Another interesting development that has quietly happened in recent years is the growth of small, organic handicraft or flea markets. The first major one used to be on Fridays at Safa Park, which moved to the Creekside Park when the developments at Safa Park kicked in.

But there are lots of other such markets on different days of the week in parks and malls in Dubai and also in Abu Dhabi. Even though news of them gets around informally, primarily by word-of-mouth or in community publications, they have been able to draw many people who are looking for a nice, simple, relaxed family morning out — especially on weekends.

What makes these markets attractive? They are unorganised with just people selling to people. The range of items that you find can be quite astounding.

Bargains stalls offer used, little-used or new items at low prices. A whole range of exciting eats cater to most palettes. And don’t scoff at the numbers either.

I learnt that on Fridays in one of the markets at a mall in Jumeirah, one stall regularly sells 1,000 glasses of lemonade...

It’s great to see such community events developing. They encourage small entrepreneurs, help people get rid of unwanted stuff or experiment with new products.

Most of all they enhance the community spirit and culture of the city with the added flavour of the huge diversity of residents that the Emirates can boast of. Look out for one next weekend if you haven’t yet.

The writer is the CEO of Tridayle Consult FZE. (www.tridayle.com)