Indian supermarket chain Lulu plans to invest SR1bn ($266m) in the Saudi retail sector over the next twelve to eighteen months, it was reported on Monday.
Inaugurating the first “Lulu Department Store” in Riyadh on Sunday, Indian billionaire Yusuffali M. A., Emke Group’s managing director, said he also plans to hire 1,500 local workers to staff the new store, according to a report in the Saudi daily newspaper Arab News.
Yusuffali, who has been listed by The Wall Street Journal as one of the twenty most influential people in the UAE, told reporters at the official launch that the 1,500 Saudi workers will be hired “within the next few months” and will be trained abroad in other GCC countries.
The new 10,000 square metre store is Lulu’s 83rd in the Middle East and Yusuffali also announced that the retail giant plans to open four hypermarkets in Riyadh, a hypermarket and a supermarket in Jeddah, three hypermarkets and a department store in the Eastern Province within to 18 months.
The new stores will be opened within twelve to eighteen months, the report added, and amounts to an investment of around SR1bn ($266m).
The Emke Group is also looking to expand into the North African with its first department store in Egypt and in India it is currently building the largest shopping mall in the city of Kochi.
Follow us on
