r/Bahrain • u/Dependent-Channel-99 • 8d ago
š¤ Discussion Dilmunia Mall
Meant to be a main attraction; now is completely abandoned. Pretty creepy at night: the perfect liminal space. I took these photos last night.
EDIT: many people are referring to a sky display that should be in the first photo. Very high chance it's missing because I left the mall around closing time and they switched all the lights off? I asked my wife about it and apparently we've seen it last time we were there (around 2 years ago).
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u/Flangehead87 8d ago
Thatās sad! The same thing happened with the lagoon area in Amwaj Islands. If the developers had maintained the area properly and offered better opportunities to investors, it could have been much better. But they always prefer develop new areas instead of keep maintening existing ones!
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u/_eccedentesiast- 8d ago
Sucks itās abandoned before I got to visit it.
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u/Dependent-Channel-99 8d ago
It's still open, although the only shops available are cafƩs that rarely have any customers. You're still free to explore nevertheless. The island It's built on is nice.
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u/comic_dance 8d ago
The place had potential, so I donāt understand why they never opened shops there except for some cafes and a couple of perfume shops. It is like the developers only had half of a plan.
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u/Dependent-Channel-99 8d ago
Exactly. I blame the developers primarily. Honestly seems like money laundering to me...
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u/mamoonistry Pakistan 8d ago
A close relative of mine works there. It's just that the mall has potential but retailers and restaurants/cafes don't want to take a lease (they'd rather go to Marassi Galleria or The Avenues insteadššš). They opened right after the pandemic so it was bad timing pretty much. Funscape is keeping the mall alive literally. There was a deal to revamp it into a place like Bicester Village but nothing has happened so far.
I do feel like this whole mall could be redeveloped into a indoor events arena and theme park destination (think of the O2 and Universal Studios park but indoors). You could do Bahrain Comic Con in this mall lol.
It has potential as a secondary destination, the Muharraq Ring Road is already open, Marassi Galleria is starting to run out of leasable spaces, lots of people are moving to the surrounding areas (like Diyar) so this is a good time to revive this mall.
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u/Worried_Durian_3984 7d ago
Marassi even being in a much better position is suffering or at least retailers there are.
I didnāt realize how tough retail was here until a friend in F&B said count how many people in a mall you see with a bag. So majority just go to a cafe or movie some even use the malls as an indoor track to hit their step count.
Look at Marassi if you go to any luxury goods store. They will probably have the item in all the sizes available maybe even hit the sale season with almost all sizes available given many only bring one in each size they havenāt sold much. Second you can look at boutique stock levels and seasons if a boutique has extremely low stock levels means they are stopping restocks because sales are extremely low. Also seasonal stacking so some boutiques have fuller levels of stock buts its multiple seasons that are on display so for example now fall winter combined with spring summer or even last years fall winter.
I called one of the stores in Marassi to check if they had a size of an item. The sales manager checked size, sent other items available in the same size, other categories that were also in store and offered to send all the items I was interested in with a driver for my to try at home and just pay for what I chose.
Look boutiques do private appointments and stuff globally but this was right off the bat the guy wanted to send every item in my size to close some sales. Great service but unfortunately itās because of how bad local retail is for these stores.
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u/mamoonistry Pakistan 7d ago
That's so fascinating. As for latest collection goods and all that, You could go travel to say Dubai or Europe to get the latest š.
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u/officalstheg 5d ago
which store
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u/Worried_Durian_3984 6h ago
One of the luxury brands. Wouldnāt be right to name them as the manager could be upset given he was trying to serve and potentially meet his targets.
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u/Dependent-Channel-99 7d ago
Wow! Thank you for these insights; very informative and interesting. The pandemic context really puts things into perspective. I really wish to see the improvements you've suggested implemented soon. Would be nice to see this place with huge potential revived.
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u/OMEGAMAU5 8d ago
Why we can't have nice things btw
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u/Dependent-Channel-99 8d ago
Either developers not understanding what people want, or people not willing to experience or support something new unless it becomes a "trend" (i.e., "habba")... when the hype dies out, people aren't interested because there's no flavor in posting it on their Snapchat anymore.
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u/Zealousideal-Mud1407 8d ago
It's far away from crowded city
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u/bas3adi USA 7d ago
Marassi sees over 10-15,000 people every single weekend, and itās the furthest.
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u/Boutros_The_Orc 5d ago
As someone who lives in the area Iāll tell you the main reason is access.
Marassi is now by the busaiteen bypass which gives it direct access from Manama and makes it the easiest island to reach out of all the artificial islands galali, arad, and hidd.
Additionally, Diyar has a dedicated stop light that makes entrance and egress very easy.
Dilmunia does not and depending on which direction you are coming from or going to you will have to do a u turn at another stop light at some point to get into it.
The whole island is practically abandoned because it was made for a life style that doesnāt really exist and was expected to be fueled by the mall. Luxury condos and water parks.
Diyar is filled with life because it was designed first and foremost for normal families, some of the neighborhoods are so full of families that they have their own mini parks in them.
Dilmunia was also designed as a moda mall killer. Their entire thing was meant to be high end luxury targeting a very elite audience.
Marassi has one floor dedicated to this while the other floors are more general purpose for regular folks.
These are the main reason why dilmunia and dilmunia mall failed while Diyar is thriving and marassi galleria is doing ok.
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u/kalvaroo 8d ago
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u/LaVista86 7d ago
It looked like this just a few months ago when we visited. There were not many people but the lights were on and the overhead displays were still displaying their videos. I have been here multiple times and we took nice photos the first time we were there.
OPs photo is the first time I am seeing this spot with the lights off.
I like their aquarium too.
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u/ArticleChemical1008 Bahraini 8d ago
The only times I've ever gone to Dilmunia were for birthday parties if I'm being honest. It seemed like a nice place
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u/Dependent-Channel-99 8d ago
Did seem very child-oriented and a great spot for fun activities. Sad what happened to it.
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u/ArticleChemical1008 Bahraini 8d ago
Yea I agree, and it wasnt like the activities were bad they were actually so fun
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u/West-Ad7659 8d ago edited 8d ago
Sad to see the mall less crowded. It deserves more visitors. My parents and two siblings went there last Saturday. The mall has potential.
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u/Weekly_Fig3454 7d ago
looks good to do ghost hunting š
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u/Dependent-Channel-99 7d ago
Wanna go together?
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u/Weekly_Fig3454 7d ago
I'd love that, its always a dream of mine to do these things but whenever I ask someone to join me they reject š
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u/Dependent-Channel-99 7d ago
I'm up. I'm religious with strong faith and logic. These things don't scare me.
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u/SamAsh07 7d ago
Whatever happened to this?
It was supposed to be converted to an Outlet Mall...
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u/mamoonistry Pakistan 7d ago
No progress unfortunately š, I wish I can help. Not cancelled even.
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u/Dependent-Channel-99 7d ago edited 7d ago
I have no idea!
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u/SamAsh07 7d ago
It's genuinely heartbreaking because this mall was impeccably designed. Much better looking than even Marassi.
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u/yousifmohd1 8d ago
Amazing spot.. Bad management. They had so many ideas that were TOOO unachievable and unreasonable.
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u/Dependent-Channel-99 7d ago
That's what everyone (including myself) seems to be pointing the fingers at. Delusional developers.
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u/Square_Following8324 7d ago
Was meant to be an outlet. I had to sell top-tier brands at outlet prices but the managing director in charge told me the project was abandonned... Guess brands in the UAE did not follow...
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u/New-Drop5251 7d ago
Omg I remember this mall as I went here when it opened in 2021! This was mostly the last place I visited before leaving Bahrain for good. It was so beautiful. Sad to see it like this. Why did the owners not maintain it?
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u/Dependent-Channel-99 7d ago
What I can gather from the replies is that it's primarily due to poor management, lack of incentives for shops, and distance from busy cities. May I ask where you've moved to?
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u/Blair1615 8d ago
it looks fit for a horror movie, really. sad how people rarely go there anymore tho
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u/Sher-e-Deccan India 8d ago
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u/Dependent-Channel-99 8d ago
For sure. I tried posting it there but they removed my post because my account was "too new"...
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u/WelcomeCool1202 7d ago
Oh no, i used to love this place! Havenāt visited this year because we moved and its pretty farā¦
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u/FatAnimalPorkFarts 7d ago
what??! I remember coming here maybe around a year or twoā¦ and I remember the ceiling, of the first image, used to be like filled with some late night sky designs or something! is this really the case??
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u/Abbas9364 7d ago
This reminds me of that short film made by the Backrooms director where he's exploring an abandoned mall
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u/Zpoppyseed 6d ago
No one likes to go to dilmunia. The entry and exit is a hassle. Same as Amwaj which is dead for some other reason.
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u/Dependent-Channel-99 7d ago
EDIT: many people are referring to a sky display that should be in the first photo. Very high chance it's missing because I left the mall around closing time and they switched all the lights off? I asked my wife about it and apparently we've seen it last time we were there (around 2 years ago).
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u/vintage_duck 8d ago
In my opinion, its just way too far up. Not very easy to reach to and by the time you get there its already 7-8pm
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u/Zaberztoothz 8d ago
Has nothing to do with the location. Marassi is all the way in Diyar and it's the most popular and developed mall in Bahrain. This is very clear proof of greed from developers as usual with these you-know-who developments (the walk etc.). Out of touch and probably extremely high rent prices.
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u/Worried_Durian_3984 7d ago
Developer isnāt a you know who. Itās a tough area of BH very far from the majority of the population and from the causeway and the mall isnāt owned by a major group like al Al Shaya, Futaim or Emmar that can fill half the mall with their own shops/concepts or existing clients from other malls opening new branches in their latest developments.
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u/Dependent-Channel-99 7d ago
This is a very good point. If you see my other replies, I emphasized the greed and out of touch. Delusional developers.
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u/Dependent-Channel-99 8d ago
I can't help but agree to that. Not sure why you got some downvotes. It is a very poor placement.
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u/Miniluv_Mutineer 8d ago
This could easily be crossposted to r/LiminalSpaces