Festival Avenue's investment reaches EGP 2 bn as mall begins its EGP 200 mn renovation
Extensive enhancement underway at Cairo’s favorite shopping destination
Committed to evolve schemes and keep up with customers’ trends and expectations, Cairo Festival City Mall has revealed this week its latest updates for the mall’s refurbishment and expansion plan, with a total investment of EGP 2bn, announced earlier in 2019.
The retail giant is complimenting its dynamic expansion with an EGP 200 million investment in new renovations within the mall, positioning itself as an experiential and best-in-class shopping destination with an offering that maintains its position as a favorite choice for customers.
The expansion and renovation of the mall includes refurbishment and a face-lift plan to enhance the current offering. The first phase of renovation kicked off this month and is scheduled for completion by end of 2021. The plan includes enhanced flooring, improved sight lines and space visibility by eliminating and reducing the size of large common area columns and bulkheads.
Renovations include revamping the mall’s atmosphere by making it brighter and lighter, as well as, adding the dynamic technology to the mall through digital branding to support retailers and external mall partners.
Commenting at the event, Timothy Earnest, Group Director/CEO Al-Futtaim Malls, “The increasingly competitive retail market is pushing retail destinations in Egypt to get more creative on how to address the customers’ patterns and trends and continuously engage with them to make their shopping experience more unique and comfortable.”
As for the renovation, Earnest has commented: “It was very crucial to give the mall a new lease of life by undergoing a major transformation to welcome our visitors with innovative design elements, a modern ambiance and new sought-after brands.”
“We are very proud to be making continuous substantial investments in Egypt, and the completion of this project with the renovation plan that we can see today comes out of our belief that Egypt is a growing hub for retail ventures,” he concluded.
“Festival Avenue” Cairo Festival City Mall’s latest flagship expansion project seeking to enhance the traditional retail experience in Egypt is on track for its launch in Q1 2023.
Speaking about the latest construction updates and face-lift of the mall, Earnest, stated, “Despite the exceptional circumstances imposed over the last year that have affected the ongoing activities and projects in various sectors and industries, Al-Futtaim Malls stays committed to the construction plan of “Festival Avenue” at Cairo Festival City Mall.”
“CFC Mall along with its strategic partners was able to forge ahead, keeping crews on the job and working to meet deadlines, while maintaining the highest standards of safety and security for our teams. This serves as a testament to the hard work and collaboration between our partners to deliver a world-class shopping destination in Egypt,” he added.
The new expansion will add 80 new stores, including numerous international brands and 15 food and beverage outlets. With the new Festival Avenue, Al-Futtaim Group will achieve added value to the existing mall - which has won three RECON Awards in 2019 – as well as making radical changes in the retail market by providing diverse options for shoppers from stores and premium brands.
Festival Avenue will evolve the scope of the existing mall with a variety of indoor and outdoor alfresco dining options offering local and international cuisines, with an international 1,600 sqm Food Hall. By adding over 1,000 additional parking spaces, the mall will be able to hold 7,800 cars for shopping convenience - providing an unparalleled shopping and lifestyle experience to Cairo Festival City Mall.
To provide a global destination for shopping, dining and entertainment, an elevated leisure complex will be available within the new expansion for leisure activities for all age groups and will introduce a new concept of entertainment to Egypt.
Festival Avenue introduces new luxury brands to Egypt, elevating shoppers’ experience with a range of fashion brands from watches and jewelry to men and women’s fashion. The group announced the arrival of new much sought-after brands as part of the expansion with big names such as Burberry, Salvatore Ferragamo, Moschino, Zegna, Tod’s, OMEGA, Le Collezione, Red Valentino, Versace Couture, Karl Lagerfield, Cole Haan, Furla, Carolina Herrera, Emporio Armani, Tory Borch, Philip Plien, Elisabetha Franchi, Roberto Cavalli Sport, Fila, Nike, Dsquared2 and many others. For several of these brands Festival Avenue will be bringing them to Egypt for the first time.