Doha Festival City (DFC), Doha’s preferred mall and the region’s largest entertainment, leisure, retail and fashion destination, celebrated its grand opening with a one-of-a-kind appearance with global superstar Jennifer Lopez (JLo) on Thursday, 8 November with a VIP Gala dinner at Mondrian Doha for the region’s first Retailer Excellence Awards and on Friday 9 November 2018 with a special live Q+A hosted by Qatar Social Media Celebrity Khalifa Saleh Al Haroon and special meet & greet for fans.
In her first ever appearance in Qatar, Jennifer Lopez performed hits including 'Jenny from the Block'¸ 'Let’s Get Loud', 'On the Floor', and 'Waiting for Tonight' and wowed 650 VIP guests at the Retailer Excellence Awards’ Gala Dinner held in the Moonstone Ballroom of Mondrian Doha on Thursday 8 November.
Winners from the Retailer Excellence Awards included Ted Baker for 'Best Store Concept', the 'Best Consumer Service Initiative' award went to Monoprix, while the award for 'Best in Store Visual Merchandising' went to GAP. Harvey Nichols also took home top honours for the 'Best Window Display' while Aldo took the 'Best Marketing Campaign'. The 'Best Food & Beverage Concept' went to Jaimie’s Italian and the coveted 'Retailer of the Year' award was won by Monoprix.
International media and VIP guests were also treated to performances with a special show by renowned violinist, Jihad Akl, performances by Kuwaiti mega-star Essa Al Marzouq and for the first time on stage Qatari singer Aisha Alziani.
On Friday 9 November, hundreds gathered after participating in the Spend and Redeem activation where shoppers had to spend QAR 500 at DFC in order to attend a live Q+A session hosted in the Luxury Court at DFC by Khalifa Al Haroon where JLo answered questions for fans and did a special meet & greet. The actress and mother said she loves Qatar and looks forward to coming back, “It’s such a beautiful country, the people have been so welcoming and friendly, it has been a fabulous experience. I’ve seen Festival City Mall, and the beautiful hotel and, of course, Qatar Airways. I’ll definitely be back.”
JLo also wowed shoppers when she made an appearance at the Dior Boutique located on the ground floor of DFC in the luxury node where she signed the Dior Boutique guest book and was gifted with Dior cosmetics and fragrances.
Part of DFC’s Grand Opening celebrations included the Super Sale period offering up to 50% discounts across all food, fashion and entertainment retailers.
Says May Marzooq, Senior Marketing Manager of DFC: “It was an honour to have JLo as part our Grand Opening Celebrations which is part of our commitment to our community to bring unique experiences to our customers. We look forward to creating more exclusive experiences for our customers and continued success for DFC in the future,”
DFC’s grand opening celebrations are in partnership with key sponsors, including Qatar Airways, Mondrian Doha Hotel, Vodafone and Bentley Qatar.
Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker, said: “We are proud to be working in partnership with DFC to bring the world-class megastar JLo to Qatar for the very first time in her illustrious career. Qatar Airways is passionate about promoting music as a powerful way of connecting people, this is something which is at the heart of our own brand message – Going Places Together.”
Mondrian Doha General Manager, Axel Gassar, said: “We are extremely proud to have partnered with DFC on this historical event in Doha and are thrilled to host JLo. Our partnership is synonymous with sbe’s commitment to delivering 360-degree lifestyle experiences and we have certainly achieved that on this occasion.”
Al Wajba Motors General Manager, Mr. Saher Baaj, said, “Bentley Qatar is proud to be playing a part in welcoming celebrities from around the world to Qatar. We will always be the forefront supporters of such international standard events that aim to raise the name of Qatar all over the world”.
DFC is home to more than 400 carefully selected international and local brands, including the country’s only IKEA and the largest Monoprix in the world. The Mall was the first to launch major brands in Qatar including ACE, Harvey Nichols and the only Dior Beauty Boutique available in Doha. With more than 100 restaurants and cafés, as well as exclusive attractions such as the country’s first VOX Cinemas 4DX cinema complex and the awe-inspiring Angry Birds World Park, DFC is has exclusive offerings that can’t be found anywhere else in the state.
More with its exclusive offering, the Mall was the first in Qatar to offer an outdoor leisure trail, the first to host a Fashion and Beauty Park and now the first to offer Doha residents the opportunity to see a major global celebrity, JLo.
Source: Press Release
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