It will take more than sharks and roller coasters to entice shoppers in the future.
If current trends continue, shopping malls and amusement parks will merge to create giant theme parks and endless food courts.
Known in the industry as mega-malls, they are all the rage in the retail world. The bigger, the better - and some sort of gimmick is de rigueur to compete with the rivals.
Indoor ski slopes, bowling alleys, rock-climbing walls, water parks and shark-infested aquariums have all become standard features of the mall experience. Cinemas - of course - but they are no longer considered enough to lure shoppers.
"The challenge is, what's next?" says Mike Atwell, the head of Middle East operations for the commercial property consultant Cushman & Wakefield. "We're all competing for the next big thing."
A wide mix of shops used to be essential for shopping centres. But again, in the future, more might not be the best way forward.
"You have to create a difference, something that sets you apart from the competition," Mr Atwell says. "We don't need a wider choice of retailers. They are already here."
The UAE is one of the most heavily saturated mega-mall markets in the world. Dubai offers 1,385 square metres of shopping space per 1,000 people, compared with 1,028 sq metres per 1,000 in the US and 231 sq metres per 1,000 in Europe, according to Cushman & Wakefield data.
With so many shops available, mall operators need something very different to get consumers through their glass doors. They also need to compete with online stores, which are increasingly grabbing sales from the more traditional outlets.
"It's really about identifying gaps in the market," says Janelle Malone, the founder of Malone, a retail consultant based in the UAE. "It must be unique and different."
The ambition of all mall operators is to get customers to spend more, something that cannot be accomplished in shops alone.
"It's all about keeping customers there for as long as possible," says Michael Lewis, the director of the Middle East office for Benoy, the architecture firm specialising in retail centres. The average visitor to Bluewater, the gigantic shopping mall near London, for example, spends three hours there, its managers say.
There are different philosophies on the best way to keep consumers from returning to their cars. Attractions such as roller coasters and theme parks have limited power in terms of promoting shopping, some industry executives argue.
"I don't think roller coasters in shopping centres is the answer," Mr Lewis says. "They might be great for five minutes, but they don't do anything for the long-term use of the scheme."
Operators would be better served by developing malls as community and cultural centres, the experts argue. Museums, sports facilities, science centres, theatres and art showrooms make malls part of the fabric of the community, creating a complex that is far more thana shopping centre.
In Singapore, the new Ion shopping mall, designed by Benoy, includes residential homes and a transport hub as part of the complex.
"That's a really good example of what the future of retail is all about," Mr Lewis says.
A debate is raging within the industry about what works and what doesn't in the battle to beat the competition. Ski slopes, ice rinks and bowling alleys take up large amounts of space, but whether they justify their presence with regard to the revenue they generate is open to debate.
The next wave of malls will feature more technology, creating interactive experiences in both entertainment and retail experiences, says Stewart Hutcheon, the head of retail for Majid Al Futtaim, the mall developer.
Tomorrow's malls will focus on families and will be developed to emphasise fun as well as being educational and safe places to bring in children, Mr Hutcheon says.
The Mirdif Centre, which opened last year, is not the biggest mall in Dubai and it does not have a ski slope like Dubai's Mall of the Emirates, but it does include attractions for children.
Key features are a water park for youngsters aged between two and eight, an "edutainment" centre for small children, a games centre and Soccer Circus Dubai, an interactive football attraction.
"It's marketed to customers in Dubai as a place to bring children," Mr Hutcheon says.
Family centres also offer mall operators a degree of flexibility. If the concept grows stale, they can easily rework the space.
"You can't move an aquarium," says John Robertson, the regional director in the Middle East for the design practice RTKL. "Some of the other things you can grow and expand and compress as the market drives it."
Future malls will probably be "more focused" on how they use the building, and they will include more residential and office space to help to drive up numbers. "They can no longer stand alone," Mr Robertson says. "They need a mixed-use component."
But there is no doubt that some new mega-malls will continue to try to top the competition with jaw-dropping attractions.
Mr Atwell, who is working with a developer on a new centre in Qatar, says the first step in the planning stage is to "go out and find the next big leisure destination". But he declined to name attractions that the developer is considering for the project - he doesn't want to tip off the competition.