Qatar’s Al Meera Holding said on Monday it has entered into a franchise agreement with the UK’s WH Smith Travel Ltd to operate book shops in the Gulf state.
Under the agreement, Al Meera Holding has been granted the exclusive rights to establish and operate bookstores under the WH Smith brand in Qatar, state news agency QNA said.
It did not say how many WH Smith shops it would be opening in the Gulf state or when the first outlet would open.
WH Smith is one of the UK’s leading retailers and is made up of two core businesses – Travel and High Street.
The Travel business operates 561 units, mainly in airports, railway stations, motorway service areas, hospitals and workplaces, primarily in the UK.
Last month, Al Meera Consumer Goods Co signed a franchise deal with French retail giant Casino to open five Geant hypermarkets in Qatar and Oman over the next three years.
Al Meera will open and operate three hypermarkets in Qatar and at least two in Oman under the Geant and Geant Easy brands, said Retail Arabia, the master franchise-holder for Geant in the GCC.
Al Meera already operates 23 supermarkets under its own banner in Qatar.
In September, Qatar’s Al Meera Holding announced plans to build two new shopping malls in Doha.
One will be built in the Ain Khaled area of the capital city while another will be at Al Mansoura, including two hypermarkets, the company said.
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