So, Salalah officially has a mall. A decent shopping mall with good lighting and a nice layout. Interior in some parts is like MGM in Muscat. I'm not a huge fan of shopping malls (claustrophobia), but I did enjoy my 8 a.m. coffee last week when it was practically empty:
My thoughts on the mall:
1) I love the layout. The mall is built around a huge courtyard with fountains and a lovely seating area with plenty of tables and chairs that are packed in the evenings.
2) Around the courtyard are several entrances to the mall including a direct entrance to Home Centre and City Cinema
3) WE HAVE A CINEMA!!
4) WE HAVE HOME CENTRE! Farewell gaudy hideous Salalah furniture. Hello, decent stuff.
5) Food court is pretty small right now.. there's a McDonald's, an ice cream shop or two, Subway, and I think Harvey's . Haven't been yet so can't confirm.
6) Cafes... ahhhh. Unlike malls in Muscat, the cafes at Salalah Gardens Mall are all lined up next to and opposite one another. There's Costa, Papparoti, Crystal Coffee, and Nestle Toll House (not available in Muscat!). I've been to Nestle twice. They have awesome cookies and bars, soft serve frozen yoghurt in various flavours, and really good decaf coffee.
7) Restaurants: until now there's Pizza Inn (not recommended until they stock up on ingredients and train their waiters on serving) and Dalas Steak House (a little local eatery owned by someone obsessed with cowboys who can't spell Dallas).
8) Shops: plenty and some international brands that aren't even available in Muscat like Nose and Carpisa. Lots of shoe shops, watch shops, jewellery, makeup, Capital Stores, Smart Diet, abaya shop, fashion stores, pharmacy, hmmmm.
9) Services: several bankshave opened up branches at the mall and Omantel also has a branch. I'm not sure whether Nawras does too.
10) Carrefour.
11) Fun Land or Fun City for the kids.
12) Salalah Gardens Residences (the hotel above the mall)
13) One thing about this mall that I love is that there are plenty of benches inside the mall. I think it's the only mall in Oman with benches in the mall to take a break from shopping.
Overall it's a pretty decent selection for Salalah and there's more to come. I love the idea of the open courtyard in the middle of the mall with seating and fountains/trees. It's perfect for Salalah because we do have lovely weather.
So, it has earned Dhofari Gucci's stamp of approval. I don't see myself going there regularly but I'm glad Salalah has a mall. It's nice for the women and children who don't have places to go to. On my second visit to the mall I was pleasantly surprised to see Dhofari women sitting in the cafes. I thought they'd chicken away from that or their 'male relatives' wouldn't allow it. Apparently not.
Have you been to the mall? What do you think?
Hi Nadia, I am so glad to hear that Salalah's fine residents now have a modern shopping mall. Although when I lived in Oman, I spent the vast majority of my time in Muscat. some of my fondest memories are of the beauty of Salalah during the Khareef, as well as the unparallelled hospitality of locals, some of whom invited me for dinner..actually FEASTS!
ReplyDeleteI have a question that might seem naive /ignorant. I am from Canada and Harvey's is a fastfood hamburger/fries chain here. As far as I know, it never expanded beyond canadian borders, not even the US. I did a cursory search of the company's history and expansion and couldn't find anything about franchises outside Canada. Is the Harvey's you mention in the post indeed the Canadian-founded chain?
Friend of Oman
You were right! Someone sent me "Harvey's" by sms but they meant Hardee's"
ReplyDeletelove ur posts....
ReplyDeletei have gone there a few times and i really do enjoy it because of the courtyard that makes it well worth the trip since i dont go shopping in malls bc its just too darn expensive and also nothing much of interest to me but i do enjoy the setting they've provided and i did enjoy a nice ice cream from dream cream (first time ever trying that brand they said it was "chocoalte cheesecake" but to me it tasted like london dairy tiramisu anyhow .... and yes its Hardee's not harvey's and i had a bad experience with pizza inn in muscat so i dont wanna try this one either and yes i found it hilairious DALAS instead of dallas lolllll and i kno the ppl (not personally but my hubby does) who owns dalas coffe etc here in salalah and when i read ur comment about cowboys i had a really good laugh
ReplyDeleteSalalm Nadi,
ReplyDeleteI guesw u r aware of the all talk on Salalh Garden Mall these days in Salalah. What you don't publish an article on that and see what you have to say.