RIYADH, 17 November 2006 — The Dubai-based Landmark Group will add another premium outlet to its bouquet with the launch of the Middle East’s biggest electronics store in Sharjah within the next two weeks. Plans are also afoot to open eight mega Emax electronics stores in other Gulf countries, including the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
“These ‘big box’ electronics stores will be opened by mid-2008” said Neelesh Bhatnagar, executive director at Landmark Group, while giving a briefing of his company’s future expansion plans.
Bhatnagar said Emax has adopted a twin strategy of boosting retail selection and offering customer incentives. The three-floor, 135,000 square-foot Sharjah Emax store will offer over 300 different brands of consumer electronics and home appliances.
“Given the highly competitive retail scenario in the UAE, we are basing our growth strategy on customer trends with competitive prices,” added Bhatnagar.
The CEO also said another 130,000 square-foot store on Dubai’s Shaikh Zayed Road would also be opened shortly. Other Emax stores would be opened in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain in foreseeable future, he added, pointing out that Landmark is adopting the one-stop-shopping big-box-store trend in the US and Europe.
“We think that there is a strong need in the UAE and other Gulf states to set up outlets that have everything under one roof,” he said.
The Landmark Group was founded in 1973 with a single store in Bahrain and has since grown into one of the largest retail organizations in the Gulf region with over 400 stores. The company is expanding operations in India and more recently in Jordan. The group has also diversified into leisure, food, hospitality, and electronics manufacturing. The company recently opened Centerpoint in Dubai’s Mall of the Emirates, a mall-within-a-mall shopping zone offering consumer products from all of Landmark’s retail outlets, including Babyshop, Shoe Mart, Splash and Lifestyle.
