CEO Patrick Chalhoub said he would rather close shops that are making losses and invest in opening tech-driven stores in new spaces like community malls
As it said goodbye to nearly 60 physical stores across the Middle East in 2019, the region’s largest luxury distributor Chalhoub Group will launch three new e-commerce websites this year, according to CEO Patrick Chalhoub.
Chalhoub Group has already opened 12 e-commerce websites for its brands in the Middle East – including Level Shoes, Sephora Middle East and L’Occitane – and also launched the Arabic website of online retail giant Farfetch.
While the luxury group saw more store closures than openings in 2019, Chalhoub said he would rather close shops that are making losses and invest in opening tech-driven stores in new spaces such as up-and-coming community malls which offer “perhaps less footprint but better footprint”.
He said: “Bad retail is dead so either we invest in what we have, or we better close it.
Chalhoub said recently that retailers in Dubai are being offered free space and fit-outs in selected malls despite the shopping centres’ footfall being too low to sustain luxury retails brands, adding that Dubai is “over retailed” due to the surge in mall openings in recent years.
The supply has not been met with enough demand, according to Chalhoub, which will lead to the closure of shopping centres that do not adapt to changing trends.
