High Street Retail and Entertainment — 300,000 sqm Inside The Mukaab

The Mukaab’s High Street represents 300,000 square meters of gross leasable retail area — a figure that Mukaab executive director Steve Rossouw stated would be “akin to that of Dubai Mall” in scale and ambition. Within the broader 980,000 square meters of retail space planned across the New Murabba development, the High Street concentrates the premium shopping experience within The Mukaab itself, creating a retail promenade that integrates with the holographic dome environment, the Spiral Tower’s lower-level commercial zones, and the surrounding entertainment venues.

Retail-Entertainment Integration Model

The High Street concept extends beyond conventional mall retail. Positioned within a structure housing an immersive theater, Broadway District, concert hall, and Falcon’s Creative Group attractions, the retail experience is inseparable from the entertainment experience. Shoppers walk through retail zones while the holographic dome projects dynamic environments overhead — an ambient entertainment layer that no standalone shopping mall can replicate. The multi-sensory immersion systems deployed throughout the structure extend into retail zones, meaning the shopping experience is accompanied by curated ambient sound, controlled lighting that shifts with the dome’s projected environments, and potentially atmospheric scenting that corresponds to the visual scenery.

This integration model represents the next evolution of retail-entertainment convergence. First-generation mall entertainment added standalone attractions (movie theaters, ice rinks, aquariums) adjacent to retail corridors. Second-generation integration — exemplified by Dubai Mall’s connection to the Burj Khalifa and Dubai Fountain — created destination anchors that drove foot traffic through retail zones. The Mukaab’s third-generation model embeds entertainment into the retail environment itself: the act of walking through the High Street is an immersive experience, with the dome’s projected environments transforming the visual context from a conventional mall corridor into a stroll through projected landscapes that change daily.

The AI-driven digital facades and spatial computing infrastructure enable retail experiences that respond to individual shoppers. Augmented reality overlays delivered through smartphones or AR glasses could provide personalized wayfinding, promotional content, and interactive brand experiences layered over the physical retail environment. Retailers can deploy spatial computing to extend their store footprint into digital space — a physical boutique of 200 square meters supplemented by a virtual showroom of unlimited size, accessible through AR devices while standing at the store entrance.

Competitive Positioning Against Dubai Mall

The competitive positioning against Dubai Mall is deliberate and significant. Dubai Mall attracts over 80 million visitors annually and generates substantial retail revenue through its integration with the Burj Khalifa, Dubai Fountain, Dubai Aquarium, and KidZania. Emaar Properties reports Dubai Mall as one of the most-visited destinations globally — outperforming the Eiffel Tower, Times Square, and Niagara Falls in annual footfall. The Mukaab applies this proven entertainment-retail integration model at a level of technology integration that Dubai Mall’s 2008-era infrastructure cannot match.

Dubai Mall’s 1,200 retail outlets operate within approximately 502,000 square meters of total retail floor area (including common areas), with roughly 350,000 square meters of gross leasable area. The Mukaab’s 300,000 square meters of GLA approaches this benchmark while offering a qualitatively different retail environment. Dubai Mall operates within a conventional climate-controlled mall structure — architecturally competent but technologically standard. The Mukaab’s retail operates within a 400-meter cube containing the world’s largest immersive dome, creating a shopping environment that is itself a destination attraction.

The comparison extends to surrounding infrastructure. Dubai Mall benefits from proximity to the Burj Khalifa (the world’s tallest building at 828 meters), Dubai Fountain, and the Dubai Opera — creating a destination cluster. The Mukaab’s High Street benefits from proximity to the opera house, concert hall, iconic museum, gallery, immersive theater, and over 80 additional entertainment and cultural venues — all within a single structure rather than distributed across an outdoor district.

Saudi Retail Market Dynamics

The Saudi entertainment market’s retail dimension represents a significant opportunity. With 52.10% of national entertainment spending concentrated in Riyadh, and household entertainment spending growing at 12.4% CAGR through 2031, the addressable market for premium retail within an entertainment context is expanding rapidly. The Mukaab’s 104,000+ residential units and 9,000 hotel rooms provide a built-in customer base of potentially 400,000 residents at full occupancy, while the entertainment attractions generate destination traffic from across Riyadh and Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia’s retail market has undergone rapid transformation since the entertainment sector reforms of 2016-2019. The General Entertainment Authority’s licensing framework enabled entertainment-adjacent retail concepts — live cooking demonstrations, interactive brand experiences, technology showcases — that blur the line between shopping and entertainment. International luxury brands have expanded aggressively into the Saudi market, with Riyadh emerging as a luxury retail destination rivaling Dubai. The Kingdom’s young demographic — 60% of the population under 35 — drives demand for experiential retail formats that combine shopping with social and entertainment experiences.

The domestic tourism growth further supports High Street retail demand. Saudi Arabia’s tourism sector recorded 17% year-over-year growth in summer 2025 domestic visitation, with Riyadh as a primary destination. The Kingdom targets 150 million annual visitors by 2030 under Vision 2030, creating a growing international tourist customer base for premium retail. The Mukaab’s High Street benefits from this tourism growth through both direct visitor spending and the brand-building effect of operating within one of the world’s most architecturally distinctive retail environments.

Tenant Mix Strategy

Retail programming within The Mukaab will need to balance multiple tenant categories to maximize commercial performance and differentiate from existing Riyadh retail destinations:

International Luxury Brands: Anchor tenants providing credibility and drawing high-net-worth shoppers. Brands including Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Dior, and Chanel anchor luxury malls globally and would anchor The Mukaab’s premium positioning. These tenants demand specific store formats, adjacency requirements, and foot traffic guarantees that the High Street’s design must accommodate.

Saudi and Regional Brands: Differentiating from Dubai’s retail offering and supporting Vision 2030’s economic diversification objectives. Saudi fashion, fragrance, and lifestyle brands — including emerging designers supported by government creative industry initiatives — provide local character and support the broader national objective of developing a domestic retail industry.

Experiential Retail Concepts: Aligning with the immersive entertainment identity. Flagship stores incorporating technology-driven experiences — virtual try-on stations, personalized product customization, AR-enhanced product displays — transform retail transactions into entertainment experiences. These concepts command premium lease rates and drive social media sharing that generates organic marketing for the High Street.

Food and Beverage: Destination dining integrated with the retail promenade. Celebrity chef restaurants, Saudi culinary concepts, and international dining brands create reasons to visit the High Street beyond shopping. The dome’s projected environments provide a unique dining ambiance — eating under a projected Serengeti sunset or within a projected aurora borealis creates dining experiences unavailable at any conventional restaurant.

Revenue Architecture and Economic Impact

For The Mukaab’s economic impact projections, retail revenue represents one of the most predictable revenue streams — less dependent on technology execution risk than the holographic dome and less dependent on programming quality than the performance venues. Retail revenue derives from lease income (base rent plus percentage rent on sales above thresholds), common area maintenance charges, parking revenue, and event-driven temporary retail during peak periods.

Dubai Mall generates estimated annual rental income exceeding $1 billion from its retail operations. The Mukaab’s 300,000 square meters of GLA, if achieving comparable occupancy rates and lease rates, would generate substantial annual rental income. Premium positioning within an immersive entertainment environment could command lease rate premiums of 20-40% above conventional mall rates — retailers pay for the foot traffic and dwell time that the entertainment context generates.

The retail component’s contribution to the SAR 180 billion GDP target is substantial. Beyond direct lease revenue, High Street retail generates employment (retail staff, management, logistics), supplier spending, and tax revenue. The 334,000 jobs target for New Murabba includes significant retail employment — from luxury brand associates to restaurant staff, maintenance workers to security personnel.

The PIF’s investment in New Murabba — part of the $50 billion total project investment — reflects confidence in the retail component’s commercial viability. Retail revenue provides the predictable cash flow that complements the higher-risk, higher-potential-return entertainment and hospitality components. The entertainment market dashboard and construction progress tracker monitor retail-relevant metrics including tenant commitment progress, foot traffic projections, and competitive supply entering the Riyadh retail market.

Market Context and Commercial Viability

The Saudi entertainment market — valued at $2.98 billion in 2026 and growing at 12.4% CAGR toward $5.36 billion by 2031 according to Mordor Intelligence — provides the demand backdrop for this component of The Mukaab’s integrated entertainment ecosystem. The broader market context from IMARC Group estimates the Saudi entertainment and amusement market at $5,468.4 million in 2025, projecting growth to $11,542.2 million by 2034. Both estimates confirm sustained market expansion driven by Saudi Arabia’s demographic tailwinds (60% of the population under 35), government entertainment infrastructure investment (SAR 50 billion between 2024-2025), and the social liberalization that has normalized entertainment spending since the General Entertainment Authority’s establishment in 2016.

Riyadh’s 52.10% share of Saudi Arabia’s entertainment market concentrates demand in The Mukaab’s home city. The capital’s 8+ million metropolitan population, growing domestic tourism (17% year-over-year growth in summer 2025), and the Vision 2030 target of 150 million annual visitors by 2030 create a substantial addressable audience. The mixed reality and VR arcade segment growing at 18.5% CAGR and premium experiences growing at 20.1% CAGR align with The Mukaab’s immersive technology proposition.

Integration Within The Mukaab Ecosystem

Within The Mukaab’s 80+ entertainment and cultural venues, each component operates as part of an integrated ecosystem rather than as an independent destination. Visitors arriving for one venue discover adjacent venues through natural foot traffic patterns, spatial computing recommendations on personal devices, and the visual connectivity created by the holographic dome environment that links all interior spaces under a unified atmospheric experience.

This integration creates cross-venue revenue multipliers. Visitors attracted by one venue spend additional time and money at adjacent dining establishments within the High Street retail zone, attend evening performances at the concert hall or Broadway District, and potentially extend their visit through accommodation at the 500-room luxury hotel. The Mukaab’s design encourages extended dwell time through comfortable climate-controlled environments, varied entertainment programming across multiple venues, and the ambient entertainment of the holographic dome overhead — conditions that maximize per-visitor spending across the ecosystem.

Vision 2030 Alignment and Economic Contribution

This component contributes to New Murabba’s projected SAR 180 billion non-oil GDP contribution and 334,000 job creation target. Employment spans operational staff, technical specialists, creative professionals, management, and support functions — positions that advance Vision 2030’s workforce development objectives by creating entertainment sector careers for Saudi Arabia’s young population. The $50 billion total investment in New Murabba, backed by PIF’s sovereign capital, provides the financial depth to sustain development through the phased timeline extending to 2040.

The alignment with Expo 2030 Riyadh provides a high-profile launch platform — international visitors during the exposition experience this component as part of The Mukaab’s opening program. The subsequent FIFA World Cup 2034 provides a secondary demand catalyst that sustains investment momentum through Phase 2 development.

Construction and Delivery Timeline

Physical delivery follows The Mukaab’s phased construction timeline: Phase 1 targeting 2030 (aligned with Expo Riyadh), Phase 2 targeting 2034 (aligned with FIFA World Cup), and Phase 3 completing full development by 2040. The January 2026 construction suspension introduces near-term uncertainty, but over 14 million cubic meters of earth have been excavated and the Falcon’s Creative Group partnership signed in August 2025 demonstrates continued entertainment development commitment.

The construction progress tracker monitors physical development milestones. The technology readiness dashboard assesses the maturity of technology systems that this component depends upon. The economic impact dashboard tracks revenue and employment projections as operational data becomes available.

The retail component’s long-term evolution will respond to shifts in consumer behavior that are reshaping retail globally. The growth of e-commerce, the increasing importance of experiential retail, and the demand for personalized shopping experiences will influence the High Street’s tenant mix and programming over its multi-decade operational life. The Mukaab’s technology infrastructure provides adaptive capability that conventional retail environments lack — spatial computing enabling personalized shopping assistance, AI systems analyzing foot traffic patterns to optimize tenant placement, and the immersive environment creating experiential value that online retail cannot replicate.