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THE media descended in force on the opening of the latest Lulu hypermarket in Bahrain and photographers pushed and jostled each other for the best position as scribes stuck their smart phones and recorders under the nose of the company’s retail royalty, Yusuff Ali M.A.
The cool Indian chairman and MD of Lulu Group took it all in his stride with good humour and patience, even taking time to pose with the kingdom’s favourite community newspaper, GulfWeekly, which featured an exclusive interview with him on last week’s cover to coincide with his visit.
“The opening of the 156th Lulu Hypermarket in the Kingdom of Bahrain and the seventh in the country is a moment of great pride for us,” said Yusuffali after the inauguration. “It is a sign of our steady confidence in the bright future of Bahrain and our commitment to be a part of the progress of the kingdom”.
Warm words indeed which were reciprocated by the reception that he received from the kingdom’s leaders. Kerala-born Yusuffali met with HRH the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Premier, Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, and briefed him on Lulu Group’s expansion plans in Bahrain.
The new hypermarket is situated within the recently-opened Atrium Mall & Towers, close to the Saudi causeway on the edge of Saar.
It was officially inaugurated by Shaikh Khalid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, Bahrain’s Deputy PM, in the presence of UAE ambassador Shaikh Sultan bin Hamdan bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Shaikh Khalifa Bin Daij, President of the Crown Prince’s Court, Zayed Al Zayani, Commerce & Industry Minister, Jamil Humaidan, Labour Minister and Essam bin Abdulla Khalaf, Minister of Works, Municipalities and Urban Planning.
Other ambassadors to Bahrain also present included India’s Shri Alok Kumar Sinha, the UK’s Simon Martin and Sri Lanka’s Dr Saj Mendis, who were joined by numerous other dignitaries and business leaders.
Yusuffali revealed that Lulu’s total investment in the kingdom had already crossed BD125m and there were more plans in store, including a new project around Muharaq Central Market, set to open next year.
He was quick to praise the local workforce too saying they formed the ‘nucleus’ of operations in the kingdom and were ‘a key’ to the company’s success.
There are more than 1,200 Bahrainis who work in the group, he added, and he was ‘proud to say’ that Bahrainis have proved successful in managerial and specialised positions not only in the kingdom but across the Lulu network in other GCC countries.
That’s great news for those looking for career opportunities and progression in the retail sector but as far as ordinary customers were concerned last Wednesday they just wanted to shop until they dropped.
As always, the new hypermarket provided an impressive range of quality and value-for-money products all under one roof and the shoppers’ love affair with Lulu appeared to be inflamed further by the many inaugural offers and deals.
Bahrain hunters parked their vehicles in the car park and on every spare millimetre of space on neighbouring wasteland late into the evening.
It’s proving once again to being a win, win situation and a trolley good show for the kingdom and the company.
