Abu Dhabi: Yas Mall is gearing up for its launch before the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend in November, with construction at the mall now complete, and retailers getting their stores ready to welcome visitors.

During a media tour of the mall on Wednesday, construction workers were seen finishing paint work of outlets, and finalising the interior and exterior design of the stores at the 2.5-million-square-feet mall.

Representatives from Aldar Properties, the developer behind the mall, confirmed that construction is complete across the mall, and that the work remaining is entirely tenant-related.

Talal Al Dhiyebi, executive director of asset management at Aldar, said that retailers are currently in the process of preparing shop fronts, decorations, bringing in merchandise, and training staff.

He added that there will be marketing activities to attract customers from Dubai, the GCC, and other countries. These will include package deals to promote Yas Island as a destination.

While Al Dhiyebi did not state the total investment value of the mall, he said it is expected to contribute to Aldar’s recurring income on an annual basis, and will be the largest on balance sheet asset.

“The UAE has established itself as a retail hub, and we’ve seen year-on-year increase of 15 to 20 per cent in terms of the number of sales across the UAE. Abu Dhabi has had a gap in terms of a mall of this size with this offer so Yas Mall will fit that gap perfectly. We’re out there to compete and gain our share in the market,” Al Dhiyebi said.

Asked about the return for investment, he declined to give a time period, but said, “We never enter a project of this size unless it meets all of our investment threshold. It met our investment threshold. We’ve leased at about budget, so we’re quite confident that it meets all investment threshold to drive value to our shareholders.”

Discussing the mall’s location outside Central Abu Dhabi, Al Dhiyebi said he did not expect that to deter visitors away.

“[Areas like] Shahama, Al Bahia, and Mohammed Bin Zayed City have all been under-serviced in terms of quality retail. Dubai is 45-minutes away; you don’t get a better location than this. It’s a location that’s in the middle of an amazing island.

Weekends will always be more popular than week days … However, that doesn’t mean the mall will be empty during the week. There’s a lot of resident population around us,” he said.

Meanwhile, Paul Middleton, commercial director at Aldar, said he expected more malls to come into the market from other developers as there is huge demand for such new concepts.

The mall is the second biggest in the UAE, and the largest in Abu Dhabi. It will house the emirate’s first Hollister store, Cheesecake Factory, Angelina Café, Geant Hypermarket, and other outlets.