Deadline drawing near for grand draw

The deadline is rapidly drawing near for the grand draw of Dh1 million in cash, organised by the Dubai Shopping Malls Group (DSMG), and shoppers are rushing to make sure their raffle coupons are entered for the exciting finale to Dubai Summer Surprises tomorrow.

Visitors merely have to spend Dh200 or more in one of the participating malls in order to get their chance to become a dirham millionaire, and with the running Back-2-School surprises and kids preparing for the new term, children and adults alike are busy in the shopping malls.

"It is a very busy time for us right now and we have witnessed a 20 per cent increase in sales," said Aditya Sikri, marketing manager, Oasis Centre.

"Visitors are coming to the Oasis Centre to take advantage of the excellent Back-2-School promotions and to make sure their coupons get entered for the Dh1 million draw."

Khalid. M. Pasha, marketing services manager, Al Ghurair City, agreed. "The Back-2-School Surprises week has been very good for us. Coupon entries have been naturally high as people use this opportunity to buy discounted items.

"The overall increase in visitor traffic and sales has been approximately 30 per cent compared to this time last year."

The Mazaya Centre enjoyed a double surge in visitor numbers due to the deadline of the grand draw and the opening of the new Spinneys supermarket in the shopping mall.

"We have seen a definite increase in visitors coming to the Mazaya Centre. The new Spinneys has attracted a lot of attention and, of course, the rush to enter the draw – there have been a lot of coupons entered over the last few days," said Myra Searle, retail manager, Mazaya Centre.

Visitors hunting for exquisite jewellery are enjoying the prospects of gold at its lowest price for years and the chance to enter the draw. The gold and Diamond Park on Sheikh Zayed Road offers 30 retail outlets of designer jewellery where purchases over Dh200 are eligible for a coupon in the draw.

"We have seen many visitors coming to the Gold and Diamond Park and relishing the prospect of not only buying something valuable, but also the chance of winning a valuable lump sum of cash," said Manan Desair, Gold and Diamond Park manager.

"There is definitely a rush of visitors wanting to meet the grand draw deadline."

The Dh1 million grand draw is taking place tomorrow at Modhesh Fun City, and concludes the last day of Back-2-School surprises week, organised by the Dubai Department of Economic Development, and the end of DSS.