Dubai: Landmark Group, the Dubai-based retail conglomerate which runs brands including HomeCentre, Splash and ShoeMart, is embarking on a global expansion plan which will take it into China, Turkey and Egypt.
The company will next month venture into Shanghai, China, with a store opening for its in-house children's clothes brand Babyshop.
Over the next 12 months Landmark plans to open six stores in and around Shanghai covering 285,000 square feet. Four will be Babyshop units and two will be outlets of home furniture and furnishings brand HomeCentre.
"China is opening up for foreign investment and if we get the right sites we will expand rapidly throughout the country. Initially China will represent a small percentage of our turnover, but it's a great opportunity for the future," Landmark Group CEO, Vipen Sethi, said.
Turnover
Sethi said Landmark is committing $25 million to store openings in China over the next six months.
The group's turnover is in excess of $2 billion, not including its operations in India, where the company anticipates a total turnover of $1 billion by 2010.
"Once the business in China shows signs of growth we will commit more funds. We believe Home Centre has great potential considering the construction boom in Shanghai, while Babyshop will cater to the children's market, which has so far been unorganised."
The company is also on the verge of taking Dutch supermarket chain Spar into India through a franchise agreement.
The first store will open in Bangalore next month and will be followed by supermarkets and hypermarkets throughout the India.
"We're new to the food business so it will initially be a cautious approach," Sethi added. He said the company has no plans to enter the supermarket sector in the GCC, concentrating instead on its expanding its restaurant operations.
Middle East growth
In the Middle East, Landmark will expand into Turkey by the end of the year or early next year with the Max retail chain and into Egypt next year with its full range of retail concepts. The company is in the early stages of planning an expansion into Syria.
In Dubai, Landmark will open in-house fashion brand Splash and footwear chain Shoemart at Deira City Centre (DCC) shopping centre on September 1.
Landmark will invest around $7.5 million into opening and fitting out the two stores, which will cover more than 25,000 square feet at the mall's new extension and will represent the first presence of Landmark's first in-house brands at DCC.
The company already operates the Newlook and Echo brands at the mall through franchise agreements.
"For some time, DCC has been fully leased with no movement of tenants and we didn't have the opportunity of going there before now. Now they've built the extension we have the opportunity we've been waiting for," he said.
