Destination Malls
Large flagship malls that people intentionally travel to for major shopping, attractions, dining, entertainment, and full-day experiences.
Examples: Dubai Mall, Mall of the Emirates, Yas Mall
Methodology
How Mall Rankings UAE Works
Malls are not all trying to be the same thing. A destination mall, a community mall, an outlet mall, and a lifestyle destination should not be judged by one flat standard. Our system groups malls by type first, then compares them within their own category.
EB Score
What does EB Score mean?
EB Score stands for Experience Benchmark Score. It is Mall Rankings UAE’s editorial score for the overall mall experience, rated out of 10.
The score considers how strong a mall feels as an experience within its own category. A destination mall is not judged the same way as a community mall, and a lifestyle destination is not judged the same way as an outlet mall.
Shopping mix and retail variety
Dining, cafés, and food options
Entertainment and attractions
Parking and accessibility
Cleanliness, comfort, and visitor flow
Family friendliness and everyday usefulness
Atmosphere, design, and overall experience
Uniqueness compared with other malls in the same category
EB Score is separate from visitor ratings. Visitor ratings reflect community feedback, while EB Score is our editorial benchmark.
Why category-based rankings?
Category-based rankings make comparisons fairer. A community mall should be judged on convenience, usefulness, access, and local value. A destination mall should be judged on scale, attractions, retail depth, dining, and overall experience.
This prevents smaller malls from being unfairly punished for not being mega malls, and it prevents destination malls from being judged only by everyday convenience.
The 6 Mall Types
Official Classification System
Every mall is placed into one main category. This makes rankings easier to understand and helps visitors compare similar types of malls.
Full-Service Malls
Complete city or regional malls that serve a wide area with shopping, dining, services, entertainment, and everyday family usefulness.
Examples: City Centre Mirdif, BurJuman, Al Wahda Mall
Community Malls
Neighborhood-focused malls built around convenience, daily needs, groceries, casual dining, and services for nearby residents.
Examples: Circle Mall, Al Barsha Mall, My City Centre Masdar
Lifestyle Destinations
Experience-led retail areas focused on dining, atmosphere, walkability, outdoor spaces, cafés, leisure, and social visits.
Examples: City Walk, Boxpark, The Beach JBR, Bluewaters
Outlet & Value Retail
Malls and retail destinations focused on discounts, value shopping, outlet stores, wholesale-style retail, and deal hunting.
Examples: Dubai Outlet Mall, The Outlet Village, Dragon Mart
Souks & Specialty Retail
Traditional-style souks, themed retail spaces, jewellery hubs, and focused specialty destinations with a specific retail identity.
Examples: Gold & Diamond Park, The Souk at Qaryat Al Beri
EB Score
EB Score is the curated score used for official rankings. At this stage, scores are early editorial benchmarks while the full scoring framework is being developed.
Later, each score will be backed by a more detailed checklist, with criteria adjusted for each mall type.
Visitor Rating
Visitor ratings reflect community feedback from people who submit reviews. They are useful for public opinion, but they do not currently control official rankings.
This keeps rankings protected while review safeguards, accounts, and moderation tools are developed.
What comes next?
The next major methodology step is building a detailed scoring checklist for each mall type. This will make the EB Score more transparent, consistent, and earned.
For example, destination malls may be evaluated on attractions, retail depth, dining, visitor flow, and iconic value, while community malls may be evaluated on convenience, essentials, accessibility, cleanliness, and neighborhood usefulness.