The Emirates is possibly heading toward scaling other heights of retail growth which would see opening of new malls and retail outlets of fashion brands. And the destination that has been showing signs of robust retail growth is nothing but Abu Dhabi.

Craig Plumb, the head of research for the MENA region at the property consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle, said, "Abu Dhabi was probably last year the fastest growing market from a tourism perspective and has big plans to continue this." He said that Abu Dhabi may overtake Doha or Bahrain as far as retail is concerned.

Dubai, the largest retail market of UAE, has more than 185,800 square metres of leasable retail space in shopping centres including Dubai Mall but Abu Dhabi is set to beat its neighbour as indicated by preliminary signs of retail growth. Malls by Central Market, Aldar's reinterpretation of the capital's old souq and Bawabat al Sharq and Paragon Point are all set to write robust stories of retail growth.

Meanwhile, retail space in the emirates is expected to grow from 700,000 sq metres of gross leasable area to roughly 1.2 million sq metres in next two years.