Shopfitting is well underway at our new Tihama store at the zone, a brand new exciting strip mall in the heart of Riyadh. Our 3rd store incorporates a café which will sell the famous Royal Warrantied Higgins Coffee from London. The retail and coffee combination is first here in Riyadh and the planned opening is sometime in June 2019. Watch this space.
The beginning of April saw Tihama sign a contract with GACA (General Authority of Civil Aviation) for its first 2 Riyadh airport stores. Along with its franchise partner, Tihama will trade both units as WH Smith (The number 1 retailers for travel accessories in the World). The first store will trade at the arrivals of T2 – KKIA (King Khalid International Airport) and is due to open at the end of May 2019. The other store is in the departure area of T5 Domestic airport and is due to open at the end of June 2019.
Tihama is also in the tender process for the brand new Jeddah KAIA (King Abdulaziz International Airport) that is due to open at the end of 2019.
KAIA will deal with an initial annual footfall of in excess of 40m passengers which will grow as the visa’s for Haj and Umrah increases.
More details on the outcome in next months press release.
As well as the exciting expansion plans of the group the existing stores continue to trade exceptionally well with the first store annualizing in January and posting a +29% increase LFL – YTD.