Fawaz AlHokair Group’s mall development company Marakez inaugurated Town Center, its new EGP 260 mn convenience mall on the intersection of the Ring Road and Cairo-Ismailia Road, according to an emailed statement (pdf). The new mall is part of Marakez’s plan to invest USD 45 mn this year in four new shopping malls, which Al Hokair brothers Fawaz, Salman, and Abd Al Hamid had announced earlier this year.

Among Town Center’s first retail outlets: Majid Al Futtaim-owned supermarket chain Carrefour Egypt, which invested EGP 70 mn on the new branch, according to Masrawy. The supermarket chain had planned to spend EGP 200 mn to open nine new stores in Cairo and Alexandria before the end of the year, Egypt country manager Jean Luc Graziato said in September.

SPEAKING OF BRICK AND MORTAR RETAILERS: Black Friday footfall at Marakez Egypt’s malls was just a little lower this year than it was in 2019, Executive Vice Chairman Ahmed Badrawi told Enterprise. While the day itself saw a little less traffic than last year, overall footfall throughout November was higher than 2019 as retailers extended Black Friday offers for the majority of the month, Badrawi said. Across the pond, the picture is different — in-store traffic dropped 52.1% y-o-y on Black Friday in the US, while spending on e-commerce surged 21.6%, according to CNBC.

WANT MORE? We sat down this season of Making It with Majid Al Futtaim Properties CEO Ahmed Galal to debate how online commerce compares to the retail experience.

CORRECTION- 2 December 2020 

An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Ahmed Badrawi as CEO of Marakez Egypt.