Géant plans 35 stores in UAE

French hypermarket chain Géant has made a foray into Abu Dhabi with the opening of its sixth supermarket in the UAE under the Géant Easy banner, as part of an aggressive growth strategy that envisages the opening of 35 more Géant stores across the country over the next two years. The Géant Easy supermarket in Abu Dhabi was opened on March 21 at the One Stop Center compound in Khalifa City A in the presence of a large number of customers and executives from Retail Arabia, the master franchisee for Géant in the region, including Mohammad Ashfaq, Country Head, Retail Arabia and Yasir Arfat, the company’s Operations Manager Development for Supermarkets. Four other Géant Easy stores are located in Dubai and one more in Sharjah. Géant has been operating in the region since 2001 when it opened its first hypermarket in Bahrain before launching hypermarkets in Dubai in 2005 and Kuwait in 2009. Other than hypermarkets, Retail Arabia also owns and runs nearly 30 supermarkets under various brands in the region. Globally, Géant, which is owned by the Group Casino, has over 115 hypermarkets, and is the 5th largest hypermarket group in the world. Mohammad Ashfaq, Country Head, Retail Arabia, said: “This new store demonstrates Retail Arabia’s commitment to expanding its footprint within UAE, one of our main markets in this region. We feel there is a huge opportunity in Abu Dhabi for both our Géant hypermarket and Géant Easy supermarket brands, as the market is underserved in terms of quality supermarket shopping experiences. As part of our rapid expansion strategy, we plan to open another 35 Géant stores within the next two years. In fact we have already finalised several locations and will be opening hypermarkets in Capital Mall and Yas Mall in Abu Dhabi, Wahat Hili Mall in Al Ain, Dragon Mart in Dubai and Fujairah Mall in Fujairah”. Ashfaq said in addition to the hypermarkets that are in the pipeline, Retail Arabia is in the final stages of negotiations to open several more supermarkets including a 32,000 sq ft supermarket that is set to open in the last quarter of this year in Paragon Bay on Reem Island in Abu Dhabi.