Excited students give store ideas

Students of the St Christopher’s Infant and Junior School in Saar have been busy decorating panels outside the soon-to-open Alosra Supermarket in Al Nakheel Centre with colourful drawings, writes Mai Al Khatib-Camille.

The youngsters put their artistic skills to the test as part of the store’s initiative entitled ‘what would you like to see in your store?’ 

Pavlos Babiolakis, Alosra Supermarket buying manager, said: “At Alosra, we realise the importance that the community has on our business and the impact we can have on them.
“We provided the school with 700 pre-cut boards, which were handed out to students to creatively showcase the products they would like to see in our new store. Now that all the boards are up, we will go through each one and ensure that, where possible, all the suggested products will be available.”

The popular chain, operated by BMMI, aims to open its doors before the end of the month bringing the total number of its stores across the country to six.

In the meantime, its boards will be covered in pictures including fruits, vegetables, chocolate bars, potato chips and household products including pink light bulbs.

Year 6 classmates Sienna Wortley, 10, Ophelia Maria, 11 and Daisy May, 11, put up their favourite goodies. Sienna, from Saar, said:  “I drew a peppermint cream chocolate bar. I would love to see that at Alosra. If they bring it in, I would shop there all the time!”
Her friend Ophelia, from Barbar, drew lemons. She said: “I am excited to have Alosra right across from my school. It should have lots of yummy things that everyone likes.”

Daisy, from Barbar, said: “My mum and I love Roses lime cordial. We’d like to see that in store.”

St Christopher’s principal, Ed Goodwin, was thrilled to see how excited the children were when posting their boards. He believes that Alosra couldn’t have chosen a better location to move to than right across from the primary and junior school site.

Mr Goodwin said: “I think it’s great that Alosra is opening here because I think they will offer a lot of convenience for our parents and staff. Their ‘Grab-and-Go’ snacks will be great for the parents picking up and dropping off their children and I’m sure our staff members will be popping over to get their lunchtime snacks as well.

“This has also been a great opportunity for the kids to do creative art work and how they need to design it according to a real purpose.”

The BMMI team was elated with the students’ turn-out as well as the school’s excitement.
Mr Babiolakis added: “We are delighted that the school is as excited as we are to open and we can certainly guarantee that the fresh and friendly, premium Alosra experience will be the core of our new store.

“We serve thousands of customers daily and this activity was aimed at creating a closer and more meaningful relationship with our customers. We were really overwhelmed and pleased with all the feedback and effort that went into the project. I would like to thank the students for all their creativity – we loved seeing their work!”

This new outlet is one of many supermarkets that have replaced UK chain Waitrose which decided to exit the Bahrain market following poorer than predicted sales at some of its outlets.

Supa Save Bahrain, which ran Waitrose shops under license in the kingdom, made the announcement in November last year stating that despite strong customer loyalty to the brand, the sales required for a sustainable business were not achieved.

Curtrently the large Waitrose store in Amwaj is closed but according to The Lagoon management, a group from the UAE, which already has a presence in the kingdom, will be taking over the outlet.

The UAE brand has low, medium and high-range supermarkets and is one of the biggest suppliers of goods on the island. An announcement is due shortly.

The Waitrose in Al Hayat Shopping Centre in Mahooz has also closed and could reopen soon as a new independent store.

In February, it was revealed that Jawad Business Group had replaced the Waitrose outlets in The Centre in Nuwaidrat and Jawad Dome in Barbar. The stores have since been reopened as Jawad-branded supermarkets.

Both The Centre and Jawad Dome are properties already owned by the Jawad Business Group.
The fate of the closed Waitrose in Riffa’s The Walk still remains uncertain.