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SouqExtra! (Souq Extra, SoukExtra, Souk Extra)

SouqExtra! (Souq Extra, SoukExtra) is a chain of small community shopping centers in the UAE with a neighbourhood-focused theme and the slogan "My Favorite Place". SouqExtra was first announced at Abu Dhabi Cityscape 2007 in May 2007 by Saleh Abdullah Lootah of the Lootah Group, the founder of the SouqExtra concept.

SouqExtra! locations

Location	Emirate	Telephone	Opening date			Hours	Area	Notes
			Planned	Expected	Actual		in sq ft
	Abu Dhabi		end-2009	2010
Mushareif, Mushairef	Ajman							2 floors, 16 stores
Rashidiah, Rashidiya	Ajman			mid 2011				2 floors, 30 stores
Al Batheen, Al Bateen	Al Ain		Sep 2009	Q2 2010	May 2010		80,000	expanded
Al Barsha 2	Dubai		mid-2008	2009 Q4	23 May 2011
Al Barhsa South	Dubai							MBR villa project
Al Muhaisnah	Dubai		mid-2008	2009 Q4
Al Quoz	Dubai		mid-2008	2009 Q4	10 Jul 2011
DIP I see Ewan
DIP II expansion	Dubai		2016 Q2				32,000
Thanks for visiting	SoukExtra
Dubai Silicon Oasis I	Dubai		2012	2013	2016 Q1?		50,000	Was 90k sq ft.
Dubai Silicon Oasis II	Dubai		2017 Q1				44,000
Dubai World Central	Dubai
Ewan Residences	Dubai		mid-2008	Nov 2009	Nov 2009			Spinneys
Mirba, Merbih City	Fujairah		2009 Q1	2010	11 Jul 2011		80,000
Al Dhait	Ras Al Khaimah		2009 Q1	end-2009	2017?		100,000
	Sharjah		end-2009	2010
	Western Region

Souq Extra shops and services include

• beauty and hair salons
• car wash facilities
• childrens play areas
• children's nurseries
• coffee shops and cafes
• community halls for birthdays, community activities, parties, and other events
• fast food shops
• grocery stores and supermarkets
• gymnasiums and fitness centers
• photo processing

SouqExtra! Ajman

• [Not confirmed] Shops and services include (based on images provided which might not be accurate): Costa Coffee, Bliss Flowers, Life Pharmacy, Waitrose supermarket.

SouqExtra! Al Merbah Fujairah

• 11 July 2011 - SouqExtra! Merbah (Al Murbah, Mirbah) soft opening date. About 15 retail outlets including Lulu Express, Al Falah Optics, Al Hajis Perfumes, We Care Pharmacy. Also children's toy shop, beauty salon, female fashion accessories store, Arabic sweet shop, tyre/tire shop amongst others.
• 15 June 2009 - Project consultant confirmed but not named in press release
• Facilities, services, and shops will include auto service, beauty and cosmetics, cafes, children's play area, fashion and fashion accessories, pharmacy, restaurants. AlMerbah center on one floor.
• Lulu Express supermarket.
• Bubbles Electronics from December 2015 (children's games and play area).

Opening times 1000-2300 daily. Lulu Express open 0900-2400 (midnight) daily.

Souq Extra Al Daith South, Ras Al Khaimah (RAK)

• Originally planned opening date was in 2009-2010. Delayed to 2017? Ground-breaking expected in 2016 Q2.
• Area of approximately 100,000 sq ft ... revised to about 90,000 sq ft.

SoukExtra! Al Barsha 2 Dubai

• Opening date 23 May 2011 (press release) but Spinneys Market open end 2010?
• Spinneys Market - small supermarket, opening hours 0800-2200 or 2300 (both times seen) 7 days. No pork section. Tel +971-4-3957415.
• Other shops open from about 0800 to 2200 Sat-Thu, and about 1500 to 2200 on Fridays (times might vary for individual stores).
• ADCB ATM, Al Hajis Perfumes, Al Nofara (Arabic sweets), Al Yasmin Pharmacy, Bread Story/BreadStory (coffee, bread, cakes), Champion Cleaners drycleaning, Diplomat Man Gents Salon, Madamoiselle Beauty Salon (open 1000-2200 Sat-Thu and 1330-2200 Fri), Subway restaurant (sandwiches), Sweet and Flower Hut (gift wrapping and flowers).
• Location in Al Barsha 2 next to mosque and Al Barsha Second Park (small children's playground) on 36B Street, near the Al Barsha Mall - from mall, follow 18A St towards Al Quoz, turn right onto 21B St, the right again onto 36B St (marked as 38 St on some maps).
• Next door to center are a couple more shops (not part of the center though) - Al Barsha Star Dry Cleaning, Mohammed Ahmed Ali Foodstuff grocery store, Lucky Landscaping.

SoukExtra! Al Bateen (AlBateen) Al Ain

• Originally planned as a 26,000 sq ft centre, increased to 85,000 sq feet on two floors, with 200-225 parking spaces and 30 outlets. Bigger again, to 95,000 sq ft (01 March 2010 press release).
• Expected to open in Q3 2009 according to 24 May 2009 press release announcing that leasing opportunities were available. Delayed to second quarter of 2010 (01 March 2010 press release). Opening date might be 29 April 2010 (not confirmed).
• Official opening ceremony 09 May 2010 (press release)? But only Spinneys supermarket open so far?
• Shops and services will include cafes, children's entertainment ares, fashion outlets for men and women, restaurants. List of shops includes Baskin Robbins, Dubai Library, Grand Optics, Mademoiselle Salon & Spa, McDonald's Al Ain, Spinneys Al Ain (open date 29 April 2010), We Care Pharmacy.
• Location also given as Ghafat Al Shwaihi (is area on other side of main road, where the ADNOC station opposite SouqExtra is).

SouqExtra! Al Quoz Dubai

• 10 July 2011 - soft opening date (press release 11 July 2011).
• Shops and facilities include Al Ansari Exchange, Lulu supermarket, Galadari Driving School, We Care Pharmacy. Other shops include abayas, beauty salon, bookshop, children's toy shop, mobile phone accessories.
• Orange Opticals from Dec 2015.

Souq Extra Dubai Investments Park (DIP)

• See Souq Extra Ewan Residences.

SouqExtra! Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO)

DSO Phase I

• Souk Extra will build a 50,000 sq feet (originally 90,000 sq ft planned, then GLA 33,000 sq ft given in 2012) community center on 140,000 sq ft of land in the Dubai Silicon Oasis area of Dubai (press release 05 October 2010).
• Construction work planned for start date in Q2 2011 and be completed in 2012. Delayed until end 2013 ... then Q1 2016.
• Shops and services include: Boots pharmacy, Carrefour supermarket, Champion Cleaners, Claire’s, Exquisite Cosmetics, Holland and Barrett, Kababji, KFC, Krispy Kreme, La Brioche cafe, Mothercare, Magrabi Optics, Nayomi Spa, Pizza Hut, Reda Al Ansari Exchange, Rita’s Italian Ice, Sableh Chocolate, Starbucks, V-Perfumes.
• Facilities planned include a mosque (mentioned in original plans, not referred to in later updates, status unknown).

DSO Phase II

• Area 44,000 sq ft expansion to Phase I.
• Opened date planned for Q1 2017.
• Services and facilities include: children's play and nursery area; international gym; more restaurants, cafes, and other F&B outlets; cobblestone courtyard piazza.

Souk Extra Ewan Residences

Phase I

Souq Extra Ewan Residences is the first SouqExtra! to open in the UAE. Official opening date was 28 December 2009 according to a press release 29 December 2009? Delayed from September 2009 then November 2009. Ewan Soukextra is on one floor. The Ewan Residential area is in the south-east corner of Dubai Investment Park (DIP) phase I. Shops and services opening in the Ewan Souqextra include:

• Spinneys supermarket - open 15 October 2009, opening hours 0800-2200 Saturday to Friday. No pork section.
• Al Farooj Fresh Restaurant (fast food).
• Bare Beauty Saloon (Bare Ladies Saloon, and Bare Gents Saloon).
• Champion Cleaners drycleaning services .
• Dubai Library Distributors .
• Life Pharmacy.
• Redha Al Ansari money exchange.
• Starbucks coffee.

Centre opening times 0800-2200 Sat-Thu, 1500-2200 on Fridays.

Souk Extra Dubai Investments Park (DIP) Ewan Residences Phase II

• Expansion of Phase I with additional 32,000 sq ft of community services and retail area.
• Planned opening date in 2016 Q2.

Souq Extra information

• Area of each Soukextra mall is about 25,000-100,000 sq feet (varies depending on location and which press release you read). So assuming those figures are Gross Leasable Area (GLA), even the largest one is still only a tenth of the size of the Oasis Center (which itself is about a third of the size of Mall of the Emirates).
• Souq Extra Al Ain expanded from 15k-25k square feet in initial reports to 80,000 sq ft on two floors according to an October 2008 press release, although the number of SouqExtra Al Ain services remained at 25 stores, and car parks at 125.
• Construction of the first SoukExtras in Dubai begain in September 2007 (according to a SoukExtra press release 22 September 2007). Delays (construction, or otherwise) pushed back the opening date of the first SoukExtra in the Ewan Residences from mid-2008 ... to September 2008 ... to October 2008 ... to end of 2008 to ... October 2009 ... to (add your own guess here).
• Investors in the SouqExtra chain other than the Lootah Group, include the Abbasi Group, Bonyan Holding, Emirates Post, National Bonds Corporation.
• Extra! will be the luxury supermarket brand. Spinneys signed an agreement with SouqExtra! to establish up to 10 small supermarkets in the Souk Extra malls. Spinneys will have a 400 sq ft store in the first SouqExtra center in the Ewan Residences, and possibly also in Al Quoz, Al Mirba (Fujairah), Al Batheen (Al Ain) (The National 23 April 2009).
• SouqExtra also announced that The Sultan Center (TSC), a large Kuwait based supermarket operator and supplier (and owner/operator of other retail lines), "will operate its 10 superstores in the UAE" (25 February 2009 press release). TSC and Spinneys are not connected though.
• Facilities management to be provided by Imdaad, a UAE based facilities management company. Services to be provided will included MEP supervision and maintenance, internal and external cleaning and security services (press release 07 April 2009)
• SouqExtra signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Dubai World Central (developers of the Al Maktoum International Airport in Jebel Ali) to consider establishing SoukExtra complexes in the DWC Residential City development (press release 13 April 2008).
• 10-12 May 2007 - SouqExtra plans first announced at Abu Dhabi Cityscape 2007 by Saleh Abdullah Lootah of the Lootah Group, the founder of the SouqExtra concept. He said the first four SoukExtra shopping malls would be ready in Dubai by mid-2008. So far it looks like the delay will be a little over 1 year, which is not bad for developments in Dubai. Mr Lootah also said there would be 9 SouqExtra centers by 2009 and 20 by 2012. As of April 2009, there are none.

SoukExtra expansion plans and news

• 27 Nov 2012 press release: SouqExtra announced Carrefour Market as an anchor tenant for the new Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO) mall, with an area of 15,800 sq ft for the supermarket, and total GLA of 32,600 for the DSO center. Opening date given as late 2013 (delayed from 2012). Another 4 centers expected to open in 2013 including Ewan Residences expansion, another location in Dubai (not specified), and one in Ajman.
• 11 Jul 2011 press release said SouqExtra! plans on opening 75 outlets within 10 years and already operates in Dubai Investments Park, Al Barsha and Al Ain, with plans to open centers in Ajman and Ras Al Khaimah shortly.
• 17 Jan 2010 press release: "SouqExtra has put in place a strategic plan to open 75 outlets across the UAE and the Middle East over the next 10 years. The decision follows the positive reception of the concept within the local retail sector and among target consumer groups."
• 27 Oct 2009 press release: SouqExtra! planned to open 75 centers across the Middle East by 2019. At the time of the announcement there was one SoukExtra sort of open, at Ewan Residences.
• 22 Dec 2008 press release: SouqExtra Ajman will establish a store (or 3 stores) on 3 plots of land belonging to the Ajman Sports Club. SouqExtra and the ASC had signed a deal to establish "community supercentres in three parcels of land owned by the club."
• Jul 2008 press release: Expansion plans were to open 10 SoukExtra outlets by 2010, updated to 20 outlets in July 2008 press release. Other countries after the UAE will include the GCC area - possibly Oman and Qatar initially.

SouqExtra management

• Chairman of SouqExtra! - Saleh Saeed Lootah.
• Vice-Chairman - Adel Al Shirawi.
• Managing Director - Saleh Abdullah Lootah.
• Chief Executive - Ben Ganley.
• General Manager - Charles Starbuck.

Bedayati

• Bedayati is an initiative launched by SouqExtra to encourage UAE Nationals to enter the retail industry.
• Under the Bedayati proposal, SouqExtra will reserve 20% of their retail space to enterprises launched by Emiratis.

SouqExtra contact details

Supplied February 2016

• Location: Office 106, Building 5, Gold and Diamond Park, Sheikh Zayed Rd, Dubai.
• Tel: +971-4-3791381, Fax: +971-4-3804531.
• Postal: PO Box 6487, Dubai, UAE.
• Email: not provided, contact form on website.

Old information? Left here for archive reference.

• Nasir Iqbal, SouqExtra, PO Box 3922, Dubai, UAE.
• Tel +971-4-8853333, fax +971-4-8852333 (same as contact details for Al Islami Foods).

Last update Wednesday 24-Feb-2016

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