The recently opened Geant hypermarket has been drawing more than 100,000 people visiting during weekends. The first-ever hypermarket in the Kingdom with more than 50,000 items on its shelves enjoys a continuous flow of visitors because of its promotional offers. It consists of many sections such as grocery, cosmetics, garments, bakery and pastry, household utilities and appliances, entertainment and play court for children under one roof. “It’s a shopping pleasure for everyone,” said Saad, who has come with his family all the way from Dammam during the weekend to do his shopping in the French-style mall. He added that he made a special visit to see the state-of-the-art facility and to buy things that were cheap. He said he bought most of the promotional items since the prices were highly competitive. “Where else can I buy a sandwich toaster for SR44?” asked Hasouna, an Egyptian, adding that most of the electronic items are sold at unbelievable prices — microwave oven cost only SR299. Azra, a housewife who has come to the mart with her two children said that she was able to do her shopping with ease since here children were busy playing on the court. She lamented that some of the irresponsible customers have opened the packed boxes of electronic items and have kept as they were. “Some sort of control should be exercised on this type of reckless visitors,” she added. “No visitor misses the bakery section of the store since most of the items are sold much below the market prices,” said a schoolteacher. A roti stuffed with chicken is sold for SR2 and a fried or grilled chicken for SR2.95. Bread and croissants are also sold at attractive prices. A kilo of banana at the fruit stall costs SR1.90. “Geant has a tradition of providing distinguished customer service that manifests itself everywhere,” said the chief executive officer of Geant, Mohammed Adil, and added that the parking lot could accommodate more than 1,500 cars and more than 1,800 shopping trolleys are available for the convenience of the customers. Its General Manager Eric Bas told Arab News that since its opening, there has been an unprecedented response from the public.” There are more than 500 promotional items everyday that attract the customers to visit all sections of the store.” Bas said it is easier for the customers to have their fruits and vegetables weighed in the respective sections since it avoids unnecessary crowding at the counters.
Nestle
Nestle, an international food and beverage company, has announced winners of its trade awards. Giant Stores (Eastern Province) has won the main award. Nestle conducted a best display contest, which was held Kingdomwide for all of its traders at an event held recently in Jeddah in cooperation with Ba-Samah Trading Co., one of its local distributors. With the main prize of SR100,000 offered to winner of first position in the category A and SR50,000 for first in category B, the contest was open for participation across the Kingdom to supermarkets to use creativity and display Nestle products in an attractive way to commemorate 70 years of its presence in the region. In addition to the grand prizes of both categories, other five runners-up won SR25,000 for category A and SR10,000 for category B. Prizes were distributed to A and B categories according to the size of the outlet and creativity involved in the display. Nestle Saudi Arabia General Manager Francois Pettit said: “Nestle’s 70th anniversary in the Middle East is cause for celebration and we would like to use this opportunity to thank our partners and consumers for showing loyalty to our products over the years.” As a global company with a strong history of Swiss heritage and quality Nestle is proud to take the lead among multinationals with their ongoing commitment to research and development. Nestle operates today on five continents, with 255,000 employees worldwide and an annual global sales over $ 50 billion, he said adding that the company invests $ 700 million annually in R&D. Salem Ba-Samah, director general of Ba-Samah Trading Co, said Nestle throughout its history in the region showed commitment to investing in local employment and training and extended its involvement with local partners and consumers, including research and development of products specifically formulated to meet the needs of local people. This endorses their ability to think globally and act locally.
BSHI/BUPA
BUPA Middle East, an international health care provider, confirmed its distinction and development of services in the Saudi market by signing a new contract with Belleli Saudi Heavy Industries (BSHI). The company was established in 1983 as a Saudi/Italian joint venture. Today BSHI is 100 percent Saudi owned company. Hisham Radwan, Bupa Middle East sales director, explained that the exceptional level of customer care BUPA provided was what ensured them receiving the best healthcare services in the Kingdom and in accordance with the highest acceptable standard of healthcare worldwide. “Undoubtedly, BUPA effectively realizes its clients’ requirements. Relying on market research and our vast capabilities we’ve been able to implement our expansion plans. This comes at a time when the Saudi market is witnessing an increase in competition to offer the best possible healthcare.” Ali A. Al-Rabiah, vice president & CEO of Belleli Saudi Heavy Industries said: “BUPA’s commitment and attentiveness to providing our employees with health care services has played a significant role in our decision to establish this new relationship. The rest is credited to BUPA’s solid worldwide reputation.” BUPA Middle East, which operates through ASAS Health care Ltd., a Nazer Group subsidiary, is part of BUPA UK, Britain’s largest private health insurance company with an annual turnover that exceeds $3 billon.
ARIG
Arab Insurance Group (ARIG) has announced the election of Khalid Ali Al Bustani as chairman of the board. Al Bustani, who is assistant undersecretary at the UAE Finance Ministry and represents the UAE government on the ARIG board, was elected to this position by the board of directors at their meeting on Thursday, following the resignation of Nasser Mohamed Al Nowais. Prior to his election, Al Bustani was vice chairman of the company and chairman of its executive committee. The board also elected Hamed Saleh Al Saif as vice chairman. Al Saif represents the Kuwait Investment Authority on the ARIG board and is chairman and general manager of Kuwait & Middle East Financial Investments Company in Kuwait. The board also appointed Khalid Jassim Bin Kalban as chairman of the board’s executive committee. Bin Kalban is chief executive officer of Dubai Investments in Dubai. The board approved the group’s first quarter 2004 financial results, which recorded a net profit of $4.9 million, up from $1.0 million recorded for the first quarter of 2003.
Al-Othman Group
Abdul Rehman Al-Othman, vice president of Al-Othman Group, recently received the IDEA 04 Entrepreneur Achievement Award for his advanced fabrics SAAF. The award is given by INDA and the magazine Nonwoven Industry to the company that has had a significant impact on the engineered fabric industry. Abdul Rehman Al-Othman said SAAF would become a major player in the international nonwoven market.
