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Dubai: British retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) opened the doors to its largest store outside the UK in Dubai Festival City (DFC) yesterday, following a Dh30 million investment.
The 64,000 square foot store is more than double the size of most existing outlets in the UAE and covers two floors of clothes, home furnishings and food, but falls short of the company's 100,000 square foot flagship store in Marble Arch, Oxford Street, London.
The opening brings the total number of M&S outlets to nine in the GCC and five in the UAE. Officials of Al Futtaim Group, the franchise holders for M&S in the GCC, recently told Gulf News that approximately Dh50 million will be poured into second stores openings in Kuwait and Qatar in the next two years.
An added Dubai store on the Jebel Ali side of the city is planned for a later date.
Wisdom
Sales generated from new openings will help Al Futtaim's retail arm double its turnover to Dh2 billion in the next three years, said Jim McCallum, group director, retail, Al Futtaim Group.
McCallum would not reveal expected first year sales figures of the new M&S store, but suggested revenue would increase after the full opening of the Festival Waterfront Centre in DFC and the the completion of Ras Al Khor bridge.
"We've been running M&S since 1998, so this store is the execution of the wisdom we have accumulated over the years. If we get some things wrong here we will have to react, but I honestly don't think we've got much wrong -the ranges look fantastic," he said.
The second floor of the new store is devoted to women's fashion and lingerie, and an upcoming restaurant, while the first floor includes men's and children's clothes, dry and frozen food, home furnishings and a bakery.
McCallum said it was impossible to open a food section on a similar scale to UK stores owing to UAE import regulations and the short shelf life of fresh products.
"We as a franchise can't start a food business - it's uneconomical. The investment M&S have made into their cold chain over the years is colossal," he said.He added that the UAE will sell M&S's latest clothes ranges and will include the popular Autograph, Limited Collection, Per Una, Blue Harbour and Collezione brands.
Location
The location of the new M&S store in DFC calls into question the role of nearby outlets in Deira, Wafi Centre and Sharjah. McCallum said Dubai's population growth demands extra stores, but he admitted that some over-lapping is inevitable.
"There will some deflection, perhaps 10 per cent per surrounding store, but around 50-60 per cent of business in the first year should be extra," he said.
Your comments
Why oh why could they not have opened the new store in or near Mall of the Emirates? Or near Jebel Ali - we still have to cross the creek.
Vicky
Dubai,UAE
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