A place to shop for the 1%ers who go to Paris and Milan to buy shoes. They are selling more than things. They are selling experiences. The Tuscany-inspired theme and all that marble really cooled things off for us.
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| There are VIP and VVIP areas that remind me of sailing onboard Crystal Cruises where everyone is known by name. |
The New York Times writes:
Alhazm, Doha, Qatar
Malls may be dying across the U.S., but in the grandiose desert capital of tiny, petro-rich Qatar, they are sprouting up left and right. Consider the 5.4-million-square-foot Mall of Qatar, which will boast the country’s first Cheesecake Factory, or the open-air and yet air-conditioned Katara Plaza, to house a designated Children’s Mall shaped like a giant gift box. Dreamed up by the Qatari real estate mogul Mohamed Abdel Karim Al Emadi, the soon-to-open Alhazm is taking a more rarefied approach. “Mr. Al Emadi is passionate about classical architecture,” says Georges Bou Ibrahim, the mall’s creative director. Thus, he hired 15 architects to create a modern Middle Eastern version of Milan’s 19th-century Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II — with a domed-glass roof, Tuscan marble walls and arches featuring hand-carved Arabian motifs — surrounded by temperature-controlled gardens with fountains, gazebos and 200-year-old olive trees imported from Spain. Inside, a range of retailers and restaurants from the Continent will make their Doha debuts alongside Italian and Qatari kitchens, a women’s spa-slash-social-club and a library with rare editions of Arabic and English classics. Bou Ibrahim says, “Alhazm is not only about shopping; we are a creating a new lifestyle destination” — presumably for the sort of locals who regularly go on shopping sprees in Europe. A glass pyramid serves as a V.I.P. entryway, offering access to an underground auction house, personal shoppers and butler service.
-CHRISTINE AJUDUAWhat is it about Qatar's fascination with Italy!
Here in The Pearl we have Venice too:
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| The Pearl is an artifical island, creating over 32 kilometres of new coastline and extensive canal system. It's Venice again. |
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