BIG Eilat

BIG Eilat opened in the late 2000s in Eilat, Israel’s southernmost city and resort destination on the Red Sea. The property offers approximately 22,000 square meters of GLA in the BIG open-air power center format. Eilat’s status as a free trade zone with VAT-free retail across the entire municipality applies to all tenants on the BIG Eilat property, providing a structural pricing advantage that does not exist at any other BIG center in Israel.

Eilat itself has a permanent population of roughly 50,000 alongside year-round tourist traffic that doubles or triples the effective catchment depending on season. The city is approximately four hours by car from Tel Aviv and three hours from Beer Sheva, with Ramon International Airport providing direct domestic and limited international air links. This isolation from the Israeli core has shaped the local retail market toward a self-contained format with limited competition from outside operators.

The format spans multiple buildings in the BIG strip-mall template. Tenant mix targets both residents and tourists, with anchors including supermarkets, value fashion chains, electronics, sport, beauty, casual dining, and quick-service restaurants. The VAT-free pricing supports premium fashion and electronics tenants who would not otherwise locate outside the major Israeli urban catchments, capturing tourist spend that would otherwise leak to dedicated luxury shopping districts in Tel Aviv or abroad.

BIG operates two centers in Eilat that together cover the local retail market alongside the smaller Mul HaYam Mall and the city’s neighborhood retail clusters. Tourist behaviour drives much of the trading pattern, with peak demand during Israeli school holidays, the Eilat International Music Festival, and the winter European tourist season.

For brand expansion teams, BIG Eilat offers a unique Israeli retail environment with VAT-free pricing and dual resident-tourist catchment dynamics.