DAMMAM: Marching ahead with its aggressive expansion in the Saudi market, Middle East’s retail major LuLu Hypermarkets has opened its latest outlet in Dammam, the capital city of Eastern province of Saudi Arabia. It is the company's sixth outlet in the Kingdom and 121st in the GCC.

The latest hypermarket was inaugurated by Prince Saud bin Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, on Wednesday. The occasion was graced by Abdullah Al-Ahamed, president of Dammam Municipality, and several high ranking officials from various government departments, the local business community and prominent citizens.

Speaking at the inauguration, LuLu Group Chairman Yusuffali M.A. announced the launch of four more hypermarkets planned for this year — two in Jeddah and one each in Hail and Hofuf. “In 2017 we will launch six more in the Kingdom, including in Makkah and Madinah,” added Yusuff Ali.

The new hypermarket, located on Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Road in Dammam provides a one-stop shopping destination for the growing city dwellers, which include a growing community of nationals and expatriates.

The hypermarket also houses Sparkys family entertainment, food court consisting of authentic Arabic fine dining, Arabic and Filipino cuisine, coffee shops, pharmacy, and ATM and money exchange facilities.

Revealing his investment plans, Yusuff Ali said: “We have already invested more than SR800 million till now and intend to further invest SR700 million by the end of 2017, taking our total investment to more than SR1.5 billion in the Kingdom.”

"We are very confident that this great country will further prosper under the visionary leadership of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

“The support and love extended by the rulers gives us further impetus to serve the growing economy of this country. LuLu is committed to do its bit to help the Kingdom by opening more outlets, thereby generating employment opportunities to talented Saudis. The opening of the hypermarket in Dammam underscores our increasing presence in the region and our commitment to serve one of the growing and important markets in Saudi Arabia.”

Yusuff Ali added: “We have always believed that it’s our duty to nurture the local talent and currently there are more than 1,500 Saudis who work with us and our goal is to provide employment to 5,000 Saudi nationals by the end of 2017.”

Currently LuLu has more than 30 percent Saudis in its work force and provides best quality training to absorb them in various managerial and specialized sections.

Among others attending the inauguration were LuLu Group Executive Director Ashraf Ali M.A., Directors Althaf Mohamed and Salim M.A., and Regional Directors for Saudi Arabia Abdul Basheer, Mohammed Shehim and Mohammed Mustafa.