RIYADH, 2 May 2006 — Al-Bandar Trading Group hopes to revolutionize the electronics retailing in Saudi Arabia by launching “e-Max Stores.” The stores will feature in-house facilities to counsel customers on how to handle electronic gadgets and appliances. The theme of the 10 stores to be opened this year is “Electronics simplified.”
Neelesh Bhatnagar, managing director of Al-Bandar Trading Group, broke the news of the launch in an interview here yesterday. Mofareh Jahbeli, general manager, and Suresh Srinivas, marketing manager of Al-Bandar Trading were also present. Neelesh said that the first 25,000 sqf e-Max Store would be operational in the Dome shopping center in Jeddah this month.
“The anchor e-store of 80,000 sqf will be opened in Riyadh soon,” said Neelesh, spelling out the features of the new stores. He said that the customers at e-Max stores would have access to highly trained customer service and technical advisors, who could provide answers for a variety of questions for example how to program a VCR’s clock to how or set up a home theater system.
Al-Bandar Group owns and operates one of the largest retail chains in the Middle East. It has revolutionized the one-stop shopping concept housing a large number of concept stores including Home Plaza, CityMax, Baby Shop, Shoe Mart, Splash and Lifestyle. Al-Bandar’s outlets are strategically located in more than 14 major cities across Saudi Arabia. A number of new locations in different cities around the Kingdom have already been identified for opening the e-stores.
Referring to the distinguishing features of the e-Max Stores, Neelesh said the e-Max Stores were the second in line after the CityMax to be opened initially in several Saudi cities including Riyadh, Jeddah, Makkah, Dammam, Khamis Mushayat and Hofuf. The stores, he said, would feature the whole range of electronic products and services sourced from major electronic exporting companies and nations.
The products on offer will include a huge variety of IT products, mobile sets, TVs and electronic household appliances. Referring to the Saudization efforts of Al-Bandar Group, Neelesh said that “we had set up a world-class in-house facility to train Saudi youngsters before they are deployed at the stores.
“The establishment of this training facility by Al-Bandar’s Home Plaza affiliate comes in line with the Saudization objective of the Ministry of Labor,” said Al-Bandar chief.
The customer base, he said had been growing by 30 percent annually. He said that the company had also finalized plans to open some 12 CityMax Stores and five City Plaza stores besides the existing network of some 200 stores with different concepts across the Gulf. The new expansion plan, once executed, will provide employment opportunities for more than 1000 Saudi nationals at a time.
