RIYADH, 27 June 2007 — A major retail chain, Geant Saudi Ltd., disclosed plans to open five new hypermarkets during the next six months in Saudi Arabia, its operations manager Tim Sutton said here yesterday.
Geant is planning to open a new store in the capital city shortly, while it is also looking at entering the holy city of Madinah and a few other major urban locations across the Kingdom.
In a press conference held at its headquarters, Sutton said “Geant, which has opened five stores including two in Riyadh, had, in fact, led the trend in terms of hypermarket concept in this country. We will double our Kingdomwide operations, which are currently manned by about 3,500 employees amid intense competition,” he said. Sutton further said the new stores will sell hundreds of thousands of products ranging from groceries, bakery and butchery products, fashion wear, shoes, jewelry, electronics, sporting goods, household items, and cosmetics.
He said Geant is well-positioned in the Saudi market, which continues to be the largest in the Middle East. In fact, the size of population, the high proportion of young people and the high levels of disposable income make Saudi Arabia the fastest growing market for consumer products in the Middle East. Together with a booming economy, these factors led to a rapid increase in retailing sales, which exceeded SR167 billion in 2005.
