UK budget retailer sets up shop in Dubai

British retailer Poundstretcher will open its first international store in Dubai and plans to open a further six in the Gulf, after spotting a gap in the market for discount retailers, its general manager for Middle East and Africa has said. Poundstretcher, which saw its 2011 profits soar to GBP£1.4m (US$2.2m) against the previous year’s loss of GBP£7.1m in April, will be the first value retailer to expand outside of the UK and Ireland, Retail Week reported. “There is a gap in the market for discount retailers out there. We think we can make money,” Cliff Lomberg said. The first store, at Madina Mall, will open in two weeks and is expected to be the first of four stores across the UAE, said Lomberg. Poundstretcher, which competes with Poundland and 99p Stores, is looking to double the number of stores in the UK over the next five to six years from 402 at present.