Going shopping, Doha-style

DOHA, Qatar (CNN) -- If there's anything in which Qatar takes pride -- aside from a massive construction boom -- it is providing its Qatari minority and the hundreds of thousands of expatriates working and living here with plenty of shopping opportunities.

You can nary drive a kilometer in Doha -- few Qataris actually walk the streets -- without passing a shopping mall. And few of those malls are lacking hordes of people strolling from store to store.

From the pricey jewel-adorned head scarf fashions to budget-conscious it-could-be-rat-leather shoes, food courts to suit Eastern and Western tastes, to perfume shops selling essences for more per ounce than many people earn in a month -- shoppers in Doha are spoiled for choice.

I'm lucky to have a few Qatari national friends in Doha. Each time I visit, I'm treated to a familiar, and always entertaining, routine ... passing time at a succession of shopping centers.

Yes, many of you may think this pastime -- especially in America -- is for the kiddies. You are right. And yes, my friends and I are in our 30s. But there's a more sophisticated, Arab cultural aspect to "hanging out" at a Starbucks at Landmark Shopping Center or drinking mint tea at one of the restaurants in the renovated Souq Waqif. For many "shoppers" -- male and female -- these centers are an opportunity catch up with friends, and discretely flirt and mingle ... even if only by exchanging messages via Bluetooth on the cellphone.

And unlike many teenyboppers cruising the malls of America, most of the adults here are a shop owner's dream: high-end, impulse purchasing consumers with a lot of money to spend -- and a lot of time to kill.

Little surprise then, that shopping mall developers and management have taken to providing more entertainment options to pull in the crowds: The obligatory movie theater, for example. One mall's basement is host to a skating rink. At a recent stop at City Center-Doha Mall, thumping hip-hop beats had kids dropping their McDonald's ice cream cones and running to the center atrium to see what all the fuss was about.

Turns out there's this athlete literally center stage of the mall, kicking and balancing a soccer ball -- OK, football -- about his head, shoulders, legs and back with such skill he might put Ronaldo to shame -- and doing this to the beat of hip-hop African tunes for what seemed more than just a few minutes.

Guinean native Iya Traore's "freestyle soccer" routine mesmerized the crowd. Ironically, it distracted them from shopping -- but kept shoppers in the Mall longer and gave people something new to talk about. Apparently his athletic tricks have landed him television and live performances in Japan, Turkey, Mali, Germany, France and, increasingly, in the Arab world.

Africa would seem a long way to book an act to attract more shoppers. But then again, the stakes are high in an increasingly competitive shopping mall-packed Qatar.

As long as the mall remains an outlet to spend petro-dollars -- and Doha's main, all-access social networking scene -- mall developers will have to step up their game to keep consumers happy. E-mail to a friend