Al-Futtaim to Open the Largest M&S Foodhall Outside the UK at Dubai Festival City

Date Posted:Mon, 2nd Nov 2026

Al-Futtaim to Open the Largest M&S Foodhall Outside the UK at Dubai Festival City

Al-Futtaim is set to open the largest M&S Foodhall outside the UK at Dubai Festival City this December, introducing a new large-format destination store designed to make M&S a bigger part of customers' everyday shop in the UAE.

 

At 15,327 sq ft, the flagship Foodhall represents a significant evolution of the M&S Food offer in the market. For the first time outside the UK, customers will be able to shop the full M&S Food range, bringing together fresh food, grocery, meal solutions and new in-store experiences under one roof. The scalable destination-store format is designed to give customers more reasons to shop M&S Food more regularly, while creating a platform for future growth.

Customers will be able to complete a full weekly shop in one visit, with more than 3,500 core M&S products alongside 500 locally sourced products carefully curated for the market. The range draws on more than 200 UK suppliers and a network of local suppliers, covering fresh produce, protein, grocery, bakery, meal solutions and M&S favourites.

Food discovery will also be central to the experience. The Foodhall will introduce fresh M&S flowers internationally for the first time, alongside the Middle East's first M&S Patisserie, a Fruit Butcher, sushi counter, rotisserie chicken, coffee shop and pizza oven. It will also feature new hospitality concepts not previously used by M&S, creating more reasons for customers to explore, discover and return.

The expanded format forms part of M&S's long-term commitment to delivering exceptional-quality products at trusted value. By combining greater choice, fresh food, convenience, meal solutions and hospitality, the Foodhall is designed to make the quality and value associated with M&S Food relevant across more everyday shopping occasions.

The opening builds on a partnership between M&S and Al-Futtaim spanning nearly three decades. Since 1997, Al-Futtaim has combined local customer insight with retail operations, supply-chain capabilities and market expertise to grow M&S across the region. The new Foodhall brings those capabilities together with M&S's international food expertise, its network of trusted UK suppliers and carefully selected local partners to deliver a proposition developed specifically for customers in the UAE.

Wassim Arabi, President, Retail, Al-Futtaim, said: “Our partnership with M&S spans nearly three decades, built on a shared commitment to quality, customer trust and a deep understanding of consumers’ evolving needs. The launch of this new Foodhall is an important milestone in that journey, bringing an exciting, elevated food shopping experience to our customers. By combining M&S’s exceptional food and trusted quality with Al-Futtaim’s local market expertise and operational capabilities, we are setting a new benchmark for food retail in the UAE. We are proud to keep strengthening this longstanding partnership and look forward to what comes next.”

Mark Lemming, Managing Director of International at M&S, said: “Our purpose is to bring the best of M&S to more customers around the world. Building on the strength of our Fashion business in the Middle East, this new Foodhall is an exciting opportunity to introduce more customers in the UAE to the quality, innovation and trusted value M&S Food is known for.”

“By bringing a broader range of M&S Food together under one roof, we can become a bigger part of our customers’ everyday lives, giving them more choice and more reasons to shop with us more often as we continue to grow our presence in the region.”