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INNOVATIVE kitchenware specialists Lakeland have opened its first store in the kingdom at the Bahrain City Centre mall ... thanks to a woman's intuition, writes Shilpa Chandran.
It is only the second outlet to be opened outside the UK and the Jawad Business Group is its exclusive distributors for the Middle East as a result of the persistence of impressed customer, Judith Jawad, whose husband Faisal is chairman and CEO.
She explained: "Years ago when I had four young children, I used to order products from Lakeland catalogues.
"I asked my husband to bring it to Bahrain but the brand was not ready to expand for many years. When they were, we grabbed the opportunity and first introduced it in Dubai. It was an incredible success and exceeded all our expectations."
At the official inauguration last week, Mrs Jawad joined her sisters-in-law and company board members Fatima and Sabah for the ribbon-cutting ceremony with Lakeland's brand manager, Alison Laws.
The partnership has proved just as promising for Lakeland. Sam Rayner, its managing director, said: "We are pleased to open our second international outlet in Bahrain. This vibrant cosmopolitan country offers brands like ours the perfect platform to understand and serve to the preferences and tastes of different nationalities in one go.
"We are happy to have found a dynamic partner in Jawad Business Group.
"Lakeland offers a wide range of products that help prepare, serve and store food. Many items in our outlet are exclusive to Lakeland and all products are backed by their no-quibble guarantee. Every item is thoroughly tried and tested before the product earns its place in the Lakeland range. We are certain that the region will enjoy the Lakeland experience."
The kitchen king has around 4,000 products in its range and delivers to more than one million households around the world.
The Jawad Business Group has now started working on plans for Lakeland's expansion to Qatar, followed by other countries in the Gulf. Once established across the region, numerous outlets will mushroom in the kingdom and its neighbours.
Lakeland began in 1963 with the idea of providing local farmers with polythene bags for packing poultry. A mail order business was set up supplying agricultural plastics and home-freezing products from a garage until demand for kitchen accessories soon outweighed everything else.
In 1974, Lakeland Plastics, the creative kitchenware company was launched. As years passed, the name Lakeland Plastics no longer reflected the wide range of products sold. So, in 1997 the name was changed to Lakeland Limited, and a decade later, simply Lakeland.
The mail order business has grown from a few parcels sent out from the local post office to more than 6,000 parcels dispatched from the Kendal Dispatch Centre every day. The number of retail outlets has also expanded. There are now 50 Lakeland stores in the UK alone.
Earlier, Mr Jawad told GulfWeekly: "Since its inception, Jawad Business Group has always strived to bring to the market leading brands and concepts that would enhance the lives of our customers.
"We have constantly been on the look out for opportunities that would enhance the lifestyle of our customers.
"It has been our endeavour to understand the customer's needs and help provide solutions. We have been on a constant growth path, opening new outlets, bringing new brands to the region."
