JEDDAH: Hennes and Mauritz (H&M), a Swedish clothing company, will open its first store in the Kingdom on Sept. 13 in Jeddah’s Mall of Arabia. The store will include a women’s only section, the Alshaya International Trading Co. revealed.
Jazz Hayer, H&M Middle East business director of Alshaya Company, the company operating H&M in the Middle East, said that they were very excited to be entering the Saudi market and bringing the H&M concept of quality fashion at affordable prices to Saudi consumers.
“Our first store in the Kingdom will open on Sept. 13 and our second store will open on Sept. 27 in Dhahran Mall,” he said.
In addition, H&M will include a women’s only section. Alshaya, which operates the H&M franchise in Saudi Arabia, already has 45 women working for them in the Kingdom.
“As a brand we are always looking for ways to provide a comfortable and more relaxed shopping environment for our customers. We believe the establishment of a women’s only section will give our Saudi women customers a more pleasant shopping experience,” said Hayer. The women only section will include lingerie, nightwear and swimwear.
Alshaya is also actively creating new programs to increase the number of female staff within the organization and within the overall marketplace.
With more stress on Saudization, H&M is happy to announce that the store’s initial staff base in the Kingdom will include 35 percent Saudis.
“We have had strong support from the appropriate authorities in achieving this, and are looking forward to helping further develop skills and talents in the national retail sector among Saudi citizens,” added Hayer.
However, the remainder of the store’s employees will include Arab and non-Arab nationals.
Hayer said that they had helpful guidance and assistance from the concerned governmental departments from the beginning of procedures until the approval process.
“The staff in our women’s only section will be female, including security, back of house and other functions,” he added.
As for the challenges encountered by the company in opening a women’s only section, Hayer believes obstacles are associated with setting up any business venture.
