Shoppers in Dubai reap the fringe benefits of spending time in malls.
It was early morning, cool and hushed, as if the world were not yet fully awake. A couple of morning walkers passed by, while others were doing warm-up stretches ahead of me. Pretty much a regular sight in all neighbourhood parks, readers might say. But the swanky Mall of the Emirates is a far cry from a neighbourhood park, even though it is the venue for one of Dubai’s most fun fitness crazes — mall walking. This unique exercise routine not only keeps people in shape, it also gives them ample time for window-shopping. And, in the consumer capital of the world, what else could one ask for? So I awoke with the birds (well, not quite, but close) and set off to try a spot of mall walking for myself.
“In this weather, not wanting to exercise in the heat is a big reason why people become unfit. But here, inside the mall, the air-conditioning is beautiful, the surroundings are clean… so exercising here before the shoppers come in is perfect!” says Deborah Dixon, founder of Stride For Life in Dubai, a walking and running programme especially designed to help people of all shapes, sizes, ages and fitness levels. Stride For Life has been running the Mall Walking programme at the Mall of Emirates for the last four years, with great results. “There are over 400 members of the programme now who’ve walked a cumulative distance of over 19,000 kilometres,” says Deborah, “and our group of mall walkers numbers between 25 and 30 every day!”
As we gathered inside the huge mall, Deborah and other walk leaders wasted little time in getting us to warm up. I must confess it felt slightly daft to be exercising there, but everyone else seemed to be perfectly fine doing it, so I did it as well. That done, the walk leader, a black belt in karate, gathered the newbies to her and instructed them on the correct way of walking for the best aerobic benefits — tummy tucked in, butt tight, shoulders relaxed, arms swinging freely at 90 degrees. I realised that there are some basic differences between mall walking and walking in the park: “This surface is very hard,” says Deborah, pointing to the Italian marble on the floor, “In fact, it is much harder than the average pavement.” So she and the other trainers ensure that walkers warm up gently before they get started. “Also, we encourage beginners to walk for as little as five minutes at the beginning, just to get them used to the exercise,” she says. The right gear is of utmost importance, good walking shoes being right at the top of the list.
Anyway, we set off like a marauding army at a fast clip, walking past Debenhams (there was a “buy two, get one free” on there), Harvey Nichols (the window dressing made me forget I was supposed to be exercising), Aldo (50 per cent off on the most delicious-looking shoes), several cafes with enticing smells of fresh bread and coffee and many other stores I just couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into. A mother-daughter duo walking with us was planning to buy groceries at Carrefour afterwards, while the others were making plans to have coffee at Barista. Before I knew it, we had completed our 3 km round — with 220,000 sq m of department stores, fashion, lifestyle, sports, electronics and home furnishing outlets as well as Ski Dubai — the Middle East’s first indoor ski resort and snow park, the view kept changing fast enough for the walk to seem almost effortless.
No surprisingly, the mall walking programme, which originally began as a community initiative by the Mall of the Emirates, is delivering many intangible benefits to the mall itself. At the beginning, says Fuad Sharaf, vice president of Mall of the Emirates, “we said to ourselves, why not utilise the morning hours before business begins for something that could work to the benefit of the community?” Once the programme was under way, they realised that walking in the mall gave members a chance to have a look at what retailers had to offer. Also, people tend to shop in places they’re familiar with and comfortable in — and once you’ve walked and exercised in a mall, familiarity and comfort follow automatically.
Today, Sharaf and his team have built in many incentives to ensure the programme’s success: “We reward members with various prizes when they achieve certain targets. For example, when the mall walkers pass 50 km they receive an AED 50 gift voucher, and for every 100 km they receive a further AED 100 gift voucher. Upon joining, they receive a free T-shirt and pedometer and, in addition, throughout the year a range of retailers will provide them with discounts on tea, coffee, breakfast, other foods and beverages, and on sports shoes,” explained Sharaf. They have also recently launched a special mall walking programme for children this summer.
As we neared the end of the walking circuit, watching early shoppers straggling in, I realised that for the walkers too, the benefits of mall walking were manifold: by walking in a cool, comfortable environment, mall walkers avoid dehydration and heat exhaustion — two common bugbears of fitness enthusiasts in summer. Also, they get to exercise away from the traffic: no intersections to cross and break their stride, no auto fumes or rush-hour madness to endure! Security is not a worry, which always is when one’s walking in a public park. Water and restrooms are always at hand in a mall, unlike in parks. Add to that, an early bird advantage during Dubai’s Summer Surprise sales — and you get a combination of a fitness regimen and retail therapy that’s hard to beat.
An unexpected upside that many mall walkers including Deborah mentioned was the social bonding that has grown between the group members. “Mall walking has been my salvation,” says a British woman who moved in Dubai last October and began mall walking a month later, “I was out of my mind with boredom until I discovered it!” Farina, a South African walker, said she feels less stressed after mall walking because her conversations with fellow walkers help her ease her mind. As many of us chatted and laughed over convivial cups of coffee after the walk, I realised that these friendships probably keep many walkers as motivated as the health benefits of walking. “And these are what make exercise a way of life for our walkers,” said Deborah. Coffee downed, farewells said, I greedily headed to Debenhams, thinking that of all the ways one’s come across to lose weight and get fit, this one had to be the most fun. Just that it would probably have a slimming effect on one’s wallet as well…
