A 12-hour sale will herald the start of the 25th edition of the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) at noon on Thursday.
Shoppers have the chance to buy things for up to 90 per cent discount at the flash sale, which will run at Mall of the Emirates, City Centre Mirdif City Centre Deira City Centre Me’aisem, My City Centre Al Barsha and City Centre Al Shindagha from 12 noon until midnight. Additionally, to incentivize more people to attend the sales, shoppers spending over Dh300 at any of the participating stores will be eligible to become one of the 25 winners of Majid Al Futtaim gift cards worth Dh10,000.
Grand opening: It can’t be a festival without a kickoff party
This year’s edition of the DSF will begin with a two-day grand opening event at Burj Park, Downtown Dubai on today and tomorrow. Other highlights from the opening day celebration include fireworks displays at The Beach, La Mer, Al Seef, Dubai Festival City Mall and Dubai Creek.
Cheb Khaled, Sherine Abdel Wahab and Emirati singer Hussain Al Jassmi will perform at Burj Park, Downtown Dubai on December 26, while British pop star and former One Direction member Liam Payne, and singer-songwriter Jorja Smith will wow audiences on December 27Admission to opening day concerts is free.
To book their spots, fans need to register on DubaiCalendar.com, Platinumlist.net or via the Dubai Calendar app available.
It’s not just a sale: there are concerts too
If any resident misses out on the DSF Grand Opening concerts, there will be a few other performances taking place, including a hologram concert of the late Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum at the Dubai Opera to see her accompanied by a live orchestra of 20 musicians on stage and a performance by Sana’a Nabil, the granddaughter of Umm Kulthum. The concert will take place today and tomorrow.
Tickets which start from Dh195 can be purchased on the Dubai Opera website. The Coca-Cola Arena in City Walk will also host Pakistani singer Rahat Ali Khan on December 27, with tickets starting from Dh125 and available for purchase on the Dubai Calendar website.
Other Internationally-inspired sales of 2019
Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Singles Day and more are no longer reserved for the UK, US and China. They are now for everyone. UAE’s retailers are pushing their own versions of discount-heavy Black Friday promotions. Until last year, these Black/White/Yellow/Red Friday promotions were mainly for an online audience but this year, between October to mid-December, the promotions just kept going.
Traditionally, Black Friday sales take place on the day after the US holiday of Thanksgiving. It is regarded as the first day of the Christmas shopping season, on which retailers make many special offers. This year, many retailers participated in Black Friday, some even giving their own spin to it.
Yellow Friday, a sale started by Noon, an online retailer owned by Emaar. Others had a White Friday sale, since some stores had an aversion to calling it black. In short, White Friday is the Middle Eastern equivalent of Black Friday in the United States.
Cyber Monday, is a marketing term for the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. It was created by retailers to encourage people to shop online.
Singles Day Sales, a Chinese phenomenon that started as an ‘anti-Valentine’s Day’ by Chinese company Ali Baba, for singles to enjoy shopping. November 11 sales has now become a global trend. 11.11 is now beating Black Friday, Boxing Day and other special occasion sales by the millions around the world.
Additionally Dubai hosted two 3-Day Super Sales this year in both May and October.
