LuLu to Add Three More Hypermarkets in Dubai in 2021, Opens New One at Silicon Oasis Saudi Retailer Kamal Osman Jamjoom Buys Out Body Shop Stores in UAE

Saudi Retailer Kamal Osman Jamjoom Buys Out Body Shop Stores in UAE

Virgin Hyperloop Eyes Commercial Pilot by 2024, Says CEO

All of The Body Shop stores in the UAE have been acquired by Kamal Osman Jamjoom (KOJ) Group, the retailer that owns the Nayomi, Moda, Mihyar, and Mikyajy brands. This follows the buyout of the distribution and physical store network from The Body Shop Stores (UAE).

This is also one of the more significant deals to emerge in the local brick-andmortar space in the recent past.

KOJ is already well acquainted with the UK beauty brand, having represented it in the western Saudi Arabia territory. “With this expansion into the UAE, we are thrilled to offer The Body Shop products to a broader customer base across the GCC, and to reinforce our successful partnership with The Body Shop International,” said Hisham Al Amoudi, Group CEO of KOJ.

“We founded our company almost 35 years ago with the launch of The Body Shop

Virgin Hyperloop is targeting 2024 for the launch of its first commercial pilot systems, said the company’s new CEO.

“We will deploy the working system and afterward the passenger systems will shortly come into play in the late 2020s,” Josh Giegel, Co-Founder told Arabian Business, adding that the first route may be launched in Saudi Arabia as “it’s a big market for us.” in eastern Saudi Arabia. This investment now makes us the largest franchise operation for The Body Shop International in the MENA market.”

Kamal Osman Jamjoom owns and operates 650 outlets across the region for its many brands. Source: Gulf News (https://bit.ly/3erih5t)

“In future, it will be possible to cross the Gulf faster than Manhattan [New York],” Giegel added.

Virgin says its technology – which would see pressurised trains travel though tunnels at the speed of aeroplanes – could eventually transport 50 million passengers per year across the Gulf.

Travelling from Riyadh to Jeddah would take just 46 minutes with a hyperloop instead of one and a half hours by plane.

In November, Virgin Hyperloop trialled its first journey with passengers in Nevada, US. In the trial, two passengers – one of which was Giegel – travelled a 500 metres test track in 15 seconds, reaching 172km per hour. Virgin is aiming to eventually run the trains at 1000km per hour. Source: Arabian Business (Read More: https://bit.ly/32LvxN0)

How Brands For Less is Mapping a Positive Course Through Covid-19 Pandemic

The founding partner and CEO of budget retail outfit Brands For Less (BFL), Toufic Kreidieh, described a visit to one of their many stores as a “treasure hunt”, with bargains to be had on various designer labels. However, some could argue that it is he who has struck gold in the past 12 months, despite the continuing coronavirus pandemic. “Brands for Less is an off-price retailer. We really grow when there is a crisis taking place and this was the case during Covid-19 where we were able to grab very good opportunities in different places. We acquired a lot of properties, we signed a lot of deals and good contracts,” he told Arabian Business. The company, which was founded by Kreidieh and Yasser Beydoun in 1996, opening their first store in Lebanon, launched 11 new stores during 2020 and has a current pipeline of 14 other stores set to open their doors this year. Kreidieh said: “We were signing contracts left, right and centre because it was a buyers’ market, everyone was worried and we were lucky to really grab opportunities.” And he said he is happy to put his faith in the future of bricks-and-mortar stores in the region’s shopping malls, despite the changing shopping habits adopted as a result of the Covid crisis. Earlier this year Emaar Malls announced a 25% drop in revenue for 2020, year-on-year and profits tumbled by 69% as the company felt the full force of the pandemic. While malls giant Majid Al Futtaim recorded a 7% drop in revenue to AED32.6 billion. Kreidieh said: “Our presence in the malls increased. In the beginning, they were extremely expensive, but as everything goes in business, it’s supply and demand. Today the malls have more space that they want to sell. They look at us today as a traffic-puller, so what they do is strike a good deal with them of paying an extremely for less rent and in exchange, you will create the buzz and they will rent the areas around our stores.” BFL, which includes concepts such as Toys For Less, Homes For Less, Tchibo, and MUMUSO, boasts over 50 outlets in the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malta, Spain and Saudi Arabia. After opening their first store in Oman in 2020, lease contracts have been signed for two further outlets in the Sultanate. While a store in Kuwait has been ready to open “for the past three months”, but has been delayed as a result of the Covid-19 restrictions.

Kreidieh said they are currently negotiating for the first store in Qatar and talks are taking place in regard to Saudi Arabia. They are opening their fourth store in Malta with the fifth one under construction and plans to break into Easter Europe.

“Our first real existence, in terms of an expansion, happened in 2008, when everyone was fleeing Dubai and everyone was leaving their cars behind etc. We really benefited from that period of time to really cement our business,” he said.

“We took this opportunity again and we really benefited from this cycle on many levels,” he added.

BFL also invested in a 27,000 square metre warehouse facility in Jebel Ali, which will operate as the centre to cater to the company’s online demand. It was previously revealed that the company had invested $12 million in its eCommerce activities, with plans to grow its online presence to 50% of total operations in the next five years.

“Our type of retail is a little bit different. It’s a treasure hunt experience. You cannot hunt these brands sitting at home. You have to go there personally and look for them and hunt for them and come out really victorious from the hunt,” he said.

“It’s a treasure hunt experience that’s hand-in-hand with the brick-and-mortar, but this doesn’t mean that you cannot grow on the other side.” Source: Arabian Business (https://bit.ly/3gEhqkG)