Doha Festival City Media Briefing

Jan 20, 2021 by Doha Festival City

January online media briefing – main points

New retailers

• Opened new chocolate-focused shops and outlets, including Swiss Laderach, Jasmine, Maia Chocolates and Choco Melt that will soon join the mall. Papa John’s Pizza and White Sugar have already opened their doors.
   
• Iinaugurated the state-of-the-art Edge Fitness, and amplified our beauty, wellness, and perfumes selections with Clarins, Rituals and Ambix openings.
   
• Our mobile and telecommunications offering was strengthened with the opening of Digital House Pro and Vodafone boutiques.
   
• Diversified our selection of home accessories retailers with Karaca, Mumuso, PAN Emirates and Madam Coco openings.
   
• TOMS, a socially responsible brand that offers each customer an opportunity to make a difference in a life of an unprivileged child or adult just by buying a pair of their shoes, will soon open in Doha Festival City.
   
• Selection of fashion retailers, as well as leather goods, was enhanced with the launch of Hush Puppies and Mambo Couture, a Lebanese fashion retailer, and will be soon joined by Tuzun.
   
• The renowned Turkish brand, Amor Diamond joined the plethora of Doha Festival City’s jewellery collections.
   
• The wellness and beauty offer for men will be upgraded –we will host the first “1847” grooming salon in Qatar.
   
• In total, 26 new tenancies opened in 2020, and 27 more are set to open by early 2021.

International Festival
 

• Last Friday, we inaugurated our very first International Festival, starting with the international art festival with a range of exhibitions and events across then followed with international Tech and Food showcasing brands and partners from all over the world on the 1st of February.
   
• The first exhibition, the International Art Exhibition, currently being held at Centre Court on the Ground Floor, is a creative space for local and international artists to come together, exhibit and explore arts collections. The exhibition is open between 2 and 10 pm every day until the end of February. Pieces by artists of different nationalities, including Qatar, Mexico, Egypt, Pakistan, US, France, Iran, Uruguay, Honduras, Russia, India, Egypt, Venezuela, Syria, Lebanon, Panama, Sudan, Sri Lanka and Ethiopia, are exhibited  in the framework of the Art Festival.
   
• We partnered with international tech companies established in Qatar to showcase the major trends and tech products available at Doha Festival City including Fnac and Geek Nation.
   
• Doha Festival City will also organize tech programs and panel discussions with Tech experts that will be live streamed on the Mall’s Youtube channel. Microsoft will be among the participants, and major tech retailers and Geek Nation will join as well.
   
• The Mall will run a PC assembly competition on February 13th and 20th at Virtuocity. Four contestants will have to assemble a computer from PC parts provided by Geek Nation, and the Winner will be offered a brand-new PC from Geek Nation. Negotiations with other brands to join these Tech Festival flagship events are ongoing.
   
• Visitors will also be invited to taste a variety of international cuisines at our International Food Festival where they can receive a food passport allowing them to sample a range of foods from across the world and get a chance to win a QAR2000 DHFC Gift Card.
   
• In Doha Festival City, over 100 F&B outlets offering all kinds of cuisines from Asian through Middle Eastern, to Mediterranean and North American, will be part of the Food Festival.
   
• The International Festival will run until the end of February.  
   

Gift Card Launch
 

• This year, we are also going to launch our gift card.
   
• Customers will be able to use the card across more than 430 DHFC retailers, three Leisure entertainment parks and more than 100 food outlets.
   
• The cards will provide numerous benefits, serving as customers’ recognition system that will allow them to access promotional and reward redemption offers, and various loyalty program schemes.
   
• Gift cards are both great gifting solutions that can please anyone, and a convenient, safe, and secure mode of payment accepted throughout the Mall.
   
• The card’s load level starts at 50QAR and goes up to the maximum of 5000QAR. Non-refundable and non-reloadable, the card will be valid for 24 months.
   
• Once launched, the cards will be available at our Customer service desks in the Mall, and other points of distribution will be launched at a later stage.
   
• The card is open to all shoppers including Qatari nationals and residents as well as international visitors, and above 12 years old. We hope these cards will also be a practical shopping solution for the visitors coming for 2022 and visiting Doha Festival City.

 Theme parks reopening
 

•  Angry Birds World, Virtuocity and Snow Dunes, owned by the Qatari operator Leisure, opened their doors two weeks ago, and are now operational with capacity restrictions as set by the authorities.
   
• A new play and edutainment center ‘Spark Sense and Play’ has opened in Doha Festival City as well.
   
• Doha Festival City’s strategy gives a particular importance to kids’ leisure and edutainment. “Spark Sense and Play” is hosting toddlers and children from 6 months to 10 years old, and offers a range of activities aimed at enhancing children’s potential through art and play in an inclusive environment, equally open to children with disabilities.
   
• Caboodle, Doha Festival City’s indoor play centre for children and families, has also reopened for workshops and organized activities only. To guarantee maximum safety to all visitors, Caboodle will function with a restricted capacity, allowing only 15 children and adults to be present in the area per hour.
   
• All theme parks and play centres follow mandatory government safety rules and apply additional measures to guarantee the utmost safety to all. Regular and thorough sanitization is carried out at all facilities, and all the personnel is trained to monitor and advise customers and kids on hygiene practices to adopt and safe distancing rules to follow. 
   

Mini-golf activation
 

• This new year, we wanted to continue of this trend offer more interactive and fun activities to our visitors.
   
• We will soon open Mini Golf at the Mall which will be open to all kids and adults.
   
• Soon we will open a dedicated 450-square-metre mini-golf area is open near Café Ladurée on the first floor of the Mall, every day from 2pm. To participate, shoppers will need to register and purchase a ticket for QR30 each.
   
• Players will have to follow almost the professional rules, honing their technique and knowledge of the game with each shot.
   
• Those who particularly excel in the game – children who managed to have no more than 22 points and adults – no more than 18 – will be eligible for the mini-golf Wall of Fame. The best player will be selected each day.
   
• A special ladies and children-only day will be organized each Tuesday between 2 and 10pm
   
• By launching mini golf, we do not only want to promote an active lifestyle, but also to ensure that our customers can learn something new each time they come to Doha Festival City. We aim to make their experience exciting and memorable.
   
• It will be organized in respect of all current capacity restrictions and safety measures.
   
• We invite you to come and try a round of Mini Golf!