Power outage leaves shoppers at Yas Mall in the dark

Retailers including Lee Jeans, Sephora, Swarovski, McGregor, G-Star Raw, Lucky Brand and Ecco went without power for more than an hour on Friday.

Visitors to the newly opened Yas Mall on Friday found several shops with no power in the early afternoon. Silvia Razgova / The National

ABU DHABI // A power failure at Yas Mall affected hundreds of shoppers on Friday afternoon.

"I had a transaction which didn't push through," said a sales assistant at Lee Jeans, on the ground floor of the 235,000 square-metre mall.

“I’m glad the customer decided to come back once the lights were on.”

Many shops had to turn away customers who had wanted to check out the items on display.

Power was back on just before 3pm after being out for about 30 minutes.

“We’re now back for business and the shops on our floor are busy once again,” said the Filipino retail worker who did not wish to be named.

Other shops that plunged into darkness included Sephora, Swarovski, McGregor, G-Star Raw, Lucky Brand, Ecco and Costa Coffee, he said.

A few customers were at the Belgian chocolatiers Godiva Chocolate Cafe at the time of the incident.

“We didn’t face any complaints because our customers understood the situation,” a worker at the shop said.

A customer services employee at Yas Mall said they received a few complaints from shops on the lower ground floor and the ground floor about the power outage.

“We informed the control room and staff immediately were sent out to work on it,” she said.

No official reason was given for the outage but some shoppers said that the partial power cut was due to a circuit breaker issue.

Yas Mall, the capital's newest and largest shopping centre, opened its doors on November 19, ahead of the Formula One Grand Prix weekend.