DUBAI — On a recent Friday evening, the fountains below the Burj Khalifa still danced to music. Tourists still photographed the skyline. Ferraris still idled outside luxury hotels.
But inside Dubai Mall — long a symbol of the Gulf’s confidence and excess — something felt unfamiliar. Space.
The crowds had thinned. Luxury boutiques that once relied on streams of Russian, Chinese, European, and Saudi shoppers stood quieter than usual. Restaurant hostesses waited outside half-filled dining rooms. Real estate agents whispered about…
