Saudi jeweller to shine with $27m GCC expansion

Saudi Arabian jewellery firm L’Azurde is to invest SAR100m (US$27m) in expanding its network of retail outlets across the GCC, it announced on Thursday.

The Riyadh-based diamond specialist said it will increase its number of stores in the Gulf from its current ten to 30 over the next three years.

L’Azurde, established in 1980, has shown an annual growth rate over the past three years of more than 30 percent, it said. With its latest expansion it aims to capture 40 percent of the Saudi jewellery market. The firm did not specify where the next crop of outlets would be located.

"The goal of our ambitious expansion in the retail sector is to provide diamond jewellery to different types of consumers and for different occasions,” L’Azurde’s executive general manager Ayman Al-Haffar said in a statement. “For example, we offer marriage sets and gem fashion sets like sapphire, rubies and pearls."

L’Azurde made the announcement during the opening of a new flagship store on the Saudi capital’s Olaya Street.

The company currently has nine outlets in Saudi and one in Al Ain, UAE.