The impact of shopping malls on traditional retail stores in Muscat. case study of Al-Seeb Wilayat

Abstract

The phenomenon of change in retail trade is driven by the reality of the cities in the Sultanate of Oman, many of which have witnessed a change in the function of retail trade and seen new components added to it, e.g. the emergence of giant hypermarkets. Since their appearance, at the beginning of the third millennium, shopping centres are a symbol of globalization and modernization. They have dramatically changed not only the traditional Omani retailing structure, but also consumption behaviour. The main objective of this paper is to analyze the relationship between transnational shopping centres, on the one hand, and traditional retail trade, on the other. The competition between the traditional markets (Suq) and shopping malls is the focus of this contribution.