Having always been the cultural heart of Pakistan, Lahore is a major shopping destination whether one is looking for food, fashion or lifestyle products. The city over the past few decades has transitioned from a hub of open markets to glorious stand-alone stores on shopping districts like MM Alam and last year the city was introduced to the global concept of mall culture. Whilst Lahore has hosted multiple malls in the past years, their size, number of retailers and entertainment outlets never matched the international standards of mall culture. Nishat Group set out to fill this gap with their announcement to launch Pakistan’s biggest mall, the Emporium Mall in 2013. By June 2016, Pakistan’s largest mall was ready to inaugurate and open its doors to the people of Lahore. What made the arena rather unique from all existing retailers was that it was a one-stop solution for complete family entertainment. The mall housed Pakistan’s most sought after local and international retailers, a hypermarket, Pakistan’s largest food court, a multiplex cinema, Pakistan’s largest indoor theme park for children and adults, a separate section called The Boulevard for high end brands and a multitude of entertainment avenues ensuring that families could visit the mall to not just shop but to also create memories with their loved ones. The project was an instant hit and has since then become a favourite for Lahoris to go to with family, friends and guests visiting their city. The first two floors of the mall house all majority fashion and lifestyle retailers among which are the largest flagship stores of coveted brands like Nishat, Khaadi and Sapphire. Throughout the year, fashion retailers have celebrated multiple national celebrations amongst others by offering sales exclusively at the mall. The Lahore Shopping Festival, which happened soon after the mall’s inauguration, gave people a chance to shop with exclusive discounts and enter a chance to win new prizes everyday with the ultimate bumper prize being a Mercedes Benz CLA. The Grand Finale for the LSF was hosted by comedian Ahmed Ali Butt and attracted a significant crowd from all over Lahore. The Emporium Mall food court is the largest in Pakistan and houses 30+ food retailers with brands like Texas Chicken, Platter Junction and California Pizza which are not available anywhere else in Lahore. The food court is a mix of places with their own seating and has a vast area for public seating also. Other significant food outlets at the mall include The Pantry and Arcadian Signature Café, both of which are located on the ground floor of the mall. The Fun Factory is the largest indoor theme park in Pakistan with rides for children and adults both. Not only does the facility house a variety of rides but also includes a separate space for birthday parties. In September 2016, the park hosted children from SOS Children’s Village in Lahore for a fun day out where the park was book exclusively for the children and they were given access to all facilities of the park. Apart from offering the public a wide variety of activities to choose from, Emporium Mall has managed to position itself as a community centre where all major events and celebrations take place. The mall was given a new look through décor for all events with patriotic décor for August 14, a Winter Wonderland Set up for New Years, colourful and spectacular décor for celebrating Basant and a complete patriotic week of sales and activities for March 23 that ended with a memorable concert by Ali Azmat. During Ramadan, the mall set up an exclusive Night Market that included food and fashion stalls that were open until Sehri time, as well as an exclusive Ramadan Lounge for customers and multiple activities across the main atrium of the mall. The establishment has made it a practice to celebrate festivity whether it is through sales, concerts, on ground activations or special installations. This counts as a conscious effort on the establishment’s part to integrate themselves into the society and become the centre of all celebrations. People visit the mall not just for the array of retailers being offered or the dozens of different types of cuisines in their panel, but also because after a very long time, Lahoris have finally found a safe arena that brings all their needs under one roof and never misses out on a chance to celebrate with this lively city. There is no doubt about the fact that with the introduction of Emporium Mall, the entire consumer retail experience has entirely changed and is only evolving further for the better. Published in Daily Times, July 26th , 2017.