For two years now, Times Square Center has been redefining its concept to divert away from a purely commercial retail centre to an experientially driven community-based centre.
This strategy has attracted 10 businesses to set-up shop in the centre, located in Dubai’s Al Qoz, the majority of which are owned and operated by local women.
Nancy Ozbek, general manager of Times Square Center, was brought on to the team two years ago and was quick to identify the need to transform the centre into a community-based mall after studying the demographics.
“There is no such thing as a successful or unsuccessful shopping centre, there is your demography in the sense of who is around your mall and who is visiting it,” said Ozbek.
As she explained, 60 percent of the demography surrounding the centre was European, 70 percent of visitors were women with kids and 30 percent were fathers were kids.
“Clearly lots of families visited us. I was lucky that our demography was highly educated people which means they appreciate something which is good but complain a lot if something is not good,” said Ozbek.
“So of course, our visitors and demography guided me in this direction,” she continued.
The direction she is referring to is that of a centre that offers experiences ranging from fitness classes such as yoga or Zumba, tutoring and activities for children, and organic or sustainable products.
“We do have fashion retail but everything is organic or sustainable, there is a dedication to that aspect. Tenants have to differentiate themselves like we do,” said Ozbek.
“Personally, I think a healthy lifestyle, education, sustainability and community are important and I brought them to Times Square,” she continued.
Ozbek is a strong supporter of female-led business and said they have seen success stories in Times Square where a vendor began selling products from a small stand or table and then moved into larger stores.
“We give a platform for businesses to introduce themselves and grow in the form of a pop-up or small stand. I have been in the sector for 22 years, so I can identify which concepts can grow from the early on,” explained Ozbek.
Driven by this approach and in the past year alone 10 businesses have opened shop in Times Square Center, despite the pandemic.
To be more in line in with its community concept, Times Square is redesigning its food court into a “picnic space” which will have venues that serve homemade food. The food space will also be breastfeeding friendly with private cubicles for women who are nursing, as well as being pregnant-women and baby friendly, said Ozbek.
Ozbek expects the center to come back strong in the wake of the pandemic, judging by its performance since the lockdown measures were eased late last summer.
“Business was strong when we were allowed to operate at 50 percent capacity, and that was before the vaccines. Now we are at 70 percent capacity and I strongly believe we are getting better and better,” said Ozbek.
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