Al Mazar, the first mega "kissariat"

Spread over three levels, the centre can accommodate up to 100 franchises in average. It will accommodate more than 5,000 visitors per day. "Our stores offer suits the request of our customers. Those who want more space to have. Also, the centre must be able to adapt to small business grants such as craftsmen, for example," Bennani says. "Several franchises have already expressed interest," says the president of Best Financial. Great novelty of Al Mazar is that Virgin Megastore will be housed, a first in Morocco.

Cohabitation between international franchises and local crafts is the demonstration that Samia Kabbaj, CEO of Best Real Estate (BRE), calls "the modern Kissariat”. Al Mazar is the 2008 term of the concept of kissariat: a place of recreation, shopping, entertainment and meetings.

The project is based on objective factors to insure its success. The first advantage lies in the way of facilities management that is rented. "The tenant agrees to meet a number of conditions when operating the store.

This contributes to promoting the centre as a whole and provides some overall coherence. When this coherence is broken, we have the right to terminate the lease," said Kabbaj. The rentals cost an average of 300 DH per m2.

The second success factor, Samia Kabbaj stressed, is the existence of hypermarkets Label'Vie."The customers that drain the hypermarket will benefit all other traders.” The location of the shopping centre was finely chosen," says the CEO of BRE. It is situated at the heart of the area of Aguedal in Marrakech, behind the ramparts of the old medina and a hundred meters from the Mamounia.

The city of Marrakech has been selected to ensure maximum success in the project. The positive points that argue for the Red City as the top tourist destination, with 1 million inhabitants, of whom 4,000 foreign residents and three million people in the entire region of Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz. It is two hours south of Casablanca and three hours from Paris. Among the partners of Al Mazar, we find that Best Real Estate owns 40% of shares. The rest is shared equally between CCFC, the property branch of Saham Group and the French company Henry Hermand Development.