 |
 |
 |
 |
| Search |  |
 |
 |
french retailer, dubai developer aim for middle market hundreds of times a day, trucks carrying fresh vegetables from the delta, fish from alexandria, bread from local bakers, and computers, stationery, appliances, toys, power drills, clothing, sheets, towels and thousands of other products from distributors in cairo, pull up to unload at a desert shopping mall on the ring road outside maadi. their destination? the new french-designed “hypermarket” carrefour and the roughly three dozen surrounding stores, restaurants and fast-food spots that make up the maadi city centre – the first of several major shopping center projects planned for egypt over the next decade by dubai shopping center developer majid al futtaim group. the series of projects being developed by majid al futtaim, in partnership with carrefour of france, could inject some energy into egypt’s stagnant retail scene. the concept – copious amounts of free parking, grocery shopping and wal-mart-type discount products under one roof, combined with a food court, a “magic planet” with games and rides, and other shops and banks – is aimed at cairenes with cars, families and ordinary shopping needs. the mall will attract middle-class egyptians with an income of £e 1,000 to 6,000 per month, said tony higgins, vice president of property development for majid al futtaim, which operates several malls in dubai, abu dhabi, oman and other areas of the gulf. “we’re the first overseas professional operator of shopping malls in egypt,” higgins said. the company’s strategy for egypt assumes that shoppers here want what everyone else wants. “we believe the egyptian consumer is no different from consumers anywhere in the world,” higgins said. “they want a full range of products at good value.” all the malls in cairo are competing to attract the same 500,000 middle-class customers, he said, adding: “we believe we can get one percent of that.” so far, shoppers have been interested enough to make the drive to the ring road exit outside maadi, with the mall averaging 20,000 customers a day in its first week, according to majid al futtaim representatives. but the developers admit that they are disappointed about the opening line-up of stores. because of egypt’s restrictive duties on imports, the maadi city centre was not able to attract international retailers, and therefore has no outlets for prominent european or american clothing brands like the gap, marks & spencer or liz claiborne. the shops in the mall now sell only locally made clothing of the same brands offered in other well-known malls in cairo. mohamed galal, majid al futtaim’s general manager for business development and commercial investment, said the mall has come close to “imported” with mobaco – an egypt brand of high-quality cotton clothing that can claim international retail experience because it also sells in france – as well as shops for bass, timberland, nike and adidas, which manufacture in egypt under license. there are some specialty shops with foreign franchise brands, namely radio shack, baraka optics and grand optics. the food court also has some international brands, including a thai-chinese restaurant, an arabian restaurant and the american fuddruckers. but most of the labels on the shelves at carrefour are egyptian. importing is too difficult, according to maf hypermarkets/carrefour vice president jean richoux. “i want to import camembert from france, and we want to have american breakfast items,” he said. “i hope step by step we will get the possibility to import, and step by step egypt will open the frontiers. but we’re businessmen, not politicians, and this is a political decision.” he didn’t say shoppers would be disappointed. the mall’s flagship store offers a mega-sized meat market and bakery, tables laden with fresh fish on ice, a pickle bar and piles of produce, along with what carrefour calls the “non-food” – everything from bicycles to arabic-language pokémon. the prices look competitive, and discounts are prominently advertised. the maadi city centre covers 25,000 square meters — about half of which is carrefour. galal said the mall was fully leased except for a large, 1,300-square-meter anchor space at one end. store leases average three years, by which time, if egypt has loosened up on imports, the mall may be able to lure new tenants. carrefour’s aim is to work with local distributors and wholesalers to keep prices down. “the big challenge is for us to bring leadership to distribution in egypt,” richoux said. the french company is taking a low-key approach, partly to avoid the kind of acrimony with competitors that helped drive british supermarket chain sainsbury’s out of egypt two years ago. “it’s probably not wise in egypt to play your trumpet too loud,” richoux said. “it’s better to keep a low profile.” success will require “local management, local
products and local customers,” richoux said, adding that egypt’s
first two carrefour stores are employing 850 people, all but 15
of them egyptian. in the coming years, the dubai-based group will invest in a number of new malls, two of which are already in the works, with three others still being planned, richoux said. its second egyptian project, alexandria city centre (located at the entrance to alexandria on a desert highway) opened on january 21. larger than the maadi project, the alex mall will eventually include cinemas as well. construction is also planned to begin later this year on a third project, al maza city centre, at the juncture of nasr city and heliopolis. this mall – not far from the saudi-backed citystars complex – is scheduled to open in 2005 (see story, page 32) further ahead, even more shopping centers are planned for alexandria and cairo, and also possibly for other egyptian cities. majid al futtaim group has identified egypt and saudi arabia as its prime countries for expansion. susan postlewait |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Site Developed and Maintained by the Business Information Center of AmCham Egypt Copyright©2008 American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt |
|||
 |
|||