Dubai: A year on from the pandemic, UAE’s brick-and-mortar space is seeing action with malls and stores opening. Among them will be a new brand, Mom Store. The plan is to have 15 stores ready in three years across the Gulf.
“We are looking at all the main malls in every big city in the GCC,” said Jayant Ganwani of Lals Group, the owner and operator of the concept. “Landlords have really been supportive and excited to see the product.”
The initial stores will be about 900- to 1,000 square meters in size. The mother- and child-focussed retail category continues to record sizeable growth patterns year-on-year, and even overcoming disruptions brought on the pandemic.
The Mom Store will soon open at The Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates to add to the existing one at Mirdif City Center. The Group’s other brands are Homes R Us, Carter’s and U.S. Polo.
Economy on the mend
Now, Ganwani hopes to ride the UAE’s economic recovery. “We see net migration, which brings more disposable income into the economy,” said Ganwani. “We see income levels rising and a V-shaped recovery that will be sustained both due to the general downturn that took place last year as well as the Expo around the corner.”
Expo 2020 Dubai will run from October 1 to March 31, 2022. “All that should bring in far more, both in terms of tourists and local residents, and we are actually quite optimistic of the numbers for retail in general,” said Ganwani.