The Loft Fifth Avenue is bringing its signature beauty and grooming experience to Al Ain, opening two new destinations at Al Jimi Mall: The Loft Fifth Avenue Ladies and The Loft Fifth Avenue Gents. Known across the UAE for its expert service and contemporary approach to beauty, the brand continues to grow its regional footprint with this latest move.

The new destinations mark another milestone in the brand’s growing UAE footprint, extending its blend of expert service, contemporary beauty, and elevated grooming to Al Ain. Founded in 2008, The Loft Fifth Avenue has built its reputation around making luxury beauty and grooming feel effortless, accessible, and relevant to the pace of modern UAE life. From hair and color to nails, facials, grooming and wellness treatments, the brand brings a comprehensive range of services together under one roof, allowing clients to take care of their beauty and self-care routines without compromising on quality or experience.

At Al Jimi Mall Ladies, clients can discover hair styling and treatments, nail care, facials, waxing and threading, lashes and brows, massage and body therapy, makeup and bridal services. Al Jimi Mall Gents offers a dedicated grooming experience for men, including hair, grooming, and wellness services. Both locations will also offer membership packages for clients looking to make The Loft part of their regular beauty and grooming routine.

“Al Ain has always been an exciting market for us, and opening both our Ladies and Gents destinations at Al Jimi Mall allows us to bring The Loft experience to an entirely new community,” says Jacob Hrayki, Founder of The Loft Fifth Avenue. “Since 2008, our focus has been on creating a beauty experience that combines expertise, exceptional service, and the energy of New York with the lifestyle of the UAE. This expansion is a natural next step for the brand, and we’re excited to welcome our Al Ain clients into The Loft family.”

With more than 15 years of experience working with major global luxury and beauty brands across the Middle East, Hrayki has shaped The Loft Fifth Avenue around a deep understanding of the region’s evolving beauty and grooming landscape. His vision has been to create a destination where expert beauty services meet the convenience and expectations of the modern UAE consumer.

The Al Ain launch continues The Loft Fifth Avenue’s expansion across the UAE, with existing locations spanning Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and now Al Ain, including Dubai Mall, Dubai Hills Mall, Yas Mall, Mall of the Emirates, Motor City, Golden Mile, Shorooq, Mudon, Jumeirah Island, Tilal Al Ghaf Gents, Villanova, Wasl Vita, Rahmania Mall and Al Zahia Mall.

Whether it is a signature blow-dry, a fresh cut, perfectly finished nails, a facial, grooming treatment or simply time to unwind, The Loft Fifth Avenue continues to make beauty and self-care easy to fit into everyday life – without compromising on the experience.

To discover more and keep up with the latest news, services and launches from The Loft Fifth Avenue, follow the brand on Instagram at @theloftfifthavenue and @theloftfifthavenuegents, Facebook at The Loft Fifth Avenue and The Loft Fifth Avenue Gents, TikTok at @theloftfifthavenue, YouTube at @theloftfifthavenue_ae and Snapchat at @loft5thavenue. For more information, visit https://theloftfifthavenue.com/ / https://theloftfifthavenue.com/salon/abu-dhabi/hair-and-beauty-salon-in-al-jimi-mall-al-ain/.

Celebrated annually on 1 October, International Coffee Day shines a spotlight on one of the world’s most widely enjoyed beverages and the rituals built around it. Marking the occasion, UAE-made snack brand Rashtions is putting a local spin on the coffee break with its Brazilian Coffee Truffle, a protein-rich snack combining Brazilian coffee with dates, camel milk and ghee. Offering up to 20 grams of protein per 80-gram serving with no added sugar, preservatives or artificial sweeteners, the truffle brings together a rich, coffee-infused flavour with ingredients rooted in the UAE’s food heritage, creating an innovative snack option for enjoying all day long.

Designed to complement different moments throughout the day, the truffle can be enjoyed alongside coffee or tea, as an afternoon pick-me-up or as a convenient bite between meals. Its rich, coffee-forward flavour offers a more substantial alternative to traditional sweet treats often enjoyed with warm beverages.

At the heart of the recipe are dates and camel milk, two ingredients closely associated with the UAE’s agricultural legacy. Rashtions brings these familiar local staples together with a modern approach to nutrition, reflecting how traditional ingredients can be reimagined for on-the-go lifestyles.

Founded by Emirati entrepreneur Rashid Gargash, Rashtions grew from a research-driven exploration into food security and sustainable nutrition in the Middle East. The brand transforms locally rooted ingredients including dates, camel milk and ghee into high-protein snacks designed around contemporary eating habits.

The Brazilian Coffee Truffle joins a range that includes Date Original, Date Truffle and Cocoa Truffle, offering options for busy professionals, fitness enthusiasts and anyone looking for a convenient snack throughout the day.

Rashtions is available through ADNOC and Emarat service stations, Union Coop, Deliveroo, Noon and directly through the brand’s website, with delivery available across the UAE.

By Sima Barazi, Founder of Boom & Mellow

When I first entered retail in Dubai 24 years ago, part of the role of a multi-brand retailer was giving customers access to designers and products they simply couldn’t find here. Today, the situation is almost the opposite. Consumers can access virtually anything, anywhere, at any time.

I believe that has made curation more important, not less. There is simply too much chatter. Between social media, global e-commerce, marketplaces, influencers and fast fashion, we are constantly being shown something new. More choice sounds like a good thing, but at a certain point it becomes overwhelming. The role of a good retailer today is no longer simply to offer products; it is to filter through that noise and help customers discover what is genuinely worth their attention.

We’ve all had the experience of seeing something online that looks fantastic, ordering it impulsively and being disappointed when it arrives. The colour isn’t what you expected, the fabric feels completely different, the quality isn’t there or the piece simply doesn’t look like the photograph. Fast fashion has made experimentation incredibly accessible, but it has also contributed to a culture of constant consumption and disposability.

At Boom & Mellow, our concept store in Dubai, every product has already gone through a filter before it reaches the customer. Whether I am looking at fashion, accessories, fine jewellery or gifts, I am considering the quality, creativity, design and individuality of a piece, but also whether its price makes sense for what it is. Expensive does not necessarily mean overpriced, just as inexpensive does not necessarily mean good value. Materials, craftsmanship, originality and design all have to justify the price.

After more than two decades of buying, much of that judgment becomes instinctive. I genuinely believe some people naturally have an eye for aesthetics and trends, although experience, travel and exposure refine it enormously. Part of the pleasure of being a curator is discovering a designer before everyone is talking about them and recognising that there is something special there. We brought so many brands, including Sarah’s Bag, Alexis Bittar and Kismet by Milka, to our customers early in their journeys, and that sense of discovery remains one of my favourite parts of retail.

But curation isn’t only about predicting the next trend. It is about knowing your customer.

That human relationship has become even more valuable in a digital world. Our customers can walk into our boutique in Dubai, see and touch something, try it on and understand its quality. But that same relationship now continues digitally. Customers WhatsApp us looking for an outfit, a piece of jewellery or a gift; we send photographs and suggestions, help them narrow down the options, send a payment link and can often deliver within Dubai within three hours.

In a way, the modern boutique has become a personal filter. A customer doesn’t necessarily need another website showing her 5,000 options. Sometimes she needs someone whose taste she trusts to show her five. This is particularly true with gifting: often a customer comes to us without knowing exactly what she wants, and part of our role is helping her discover it.

For me, particularly in the last few years, curation has also become about more than aesthetics. Increasingly, it is about purpose.

As a female founder, I am particularly proud that the overwhelming majority of the designers and entrepreneurs represented at Boom & Mellow are women. This wasn’t created as a marketing strategy; it evolved organically through the brands and stories I was drawn to. Over the years, I’ve met extraordinary women who have built independent businesses around their creativity, often while balancing many other responsibilities in their lives.

We also consciously seek out brands whose impact extends beyond the finished product. Through purpose-led brands such as Sarah’s Bag and Inaash, traditional embroidery and craftsmanship can provide work and economic opportunities for women while preserving skills that might otherwise disappear. We also look for products with sustainable or circular elements, because increasingly customers want to understand not only what they are buying, but who made it, how it was made and what their purchase supports.

As a woman, mother and entrepreneur myself, those stories resonate with me. I opened Tiger Lily while pregnant with my first son and Boom & Mellow in Mall of the Emirates while pregnant with my second. Motherhood and entrepreneurship have therefore been intertwined throughout my journey. Building businesses while raising three children taught me to prioritise, adapt and, perhaps most importantly, trust my instincts.

Retail has changed enormously since I began. Trends move faster, customers are more informed and technology has removed almost every geographical barrier to shopping. But I don’t believe technology can replace the human instinct, experience and personal connection that sit at the heart of good curation. The most meaningful choices are rarely made by data alone; they are shaped by context, trust and an understanding of what will make something matter to a particular person.

An algorithm can show us more of what we already like. A great curator can introduce us to something we didn’t even know we were looking for – and, sometimes, to a designer, story or object that stays with us for years.

That, to me, is why curation matters more than ever. In a world overflowing with choice, the future of retail isn’t necessarily about offering customers more. It is about offering them meaning, confidence and the pleasure of being understood. Technology can organise what exists, but only human curation can recognise what is truly worth discovering.