The only completed portion is a small section of the outdoor mall, but among its anticipated 138 stores are Israeli fashion chains and boutique shops, as well as high-end retail outfits like Tommy Hilfiger, MAC, Bebe, H. Stern and Ralph Lauren. To use a Los Angeles analogy, it may be fair to say that the Holy City has just welcomed its equivalent of The Grove.
Unlike The Grove, however, the Mamilla Alrov Quarter need not create artificial facades to evoke a historical texture. Built on the historic Rehov Mamilla, the quarter has been a restoration project as much as an effort in capitalism.
It served as the first trading center outside the Old City walls at the turn of the century.
Visitors can walk along a street where Jordanian snipers fired at indigent Israelis who lived there in the years following the War of Independence. The French Catholic Convent of Saint Vincent de Paul stands oddly between the Israeli clothing shop Renuar and Erroca Eyewear. Even though the Old City is a tourist magnet on Shabbat and holidays, all stores will be closed on the holy days. READ MORE IN THE JEWISH JOURNAL