Supermarket chain LuLu has opened its 95th store in the region at Nizwa in Oman, which also marks LuLu's 10th venture in the Sultanate.

With plans of reaching 100 stores by the end of the year, LuLu is all set to embark on an aggressive growth plan, said LuLu Group managing director Yusuffali MA.

"This growth has been impressive, considering that in a span of 10 years, we have relentlessly pursued our dream of paving the path for LuLu to become a household name and have realised this with more than 10 stores in the sultanate," he said. "We are indeed on track to meet our set targets."

This uninhibited growth has been thanks, mainly, to the Oman government, which has facilitated the smooth establishment of stores throughout the country and has assured support all the way, he added.

"We have been fortunate in the human resources department too, having recruited some of the best Omani employees from the pool of talented local workforce,” Yusuffali said.

"Our constant endeavour is to develop and upgrade our staff and provide them opportunities to grow in the employee hierarchy," he added.

The new mall, which houses LuLu's dedicated anchor store, amongst other facilities and host of international brands, is a reflection of the group's credo to offer the best shopping experience to its customers.

With a dedicated team of trained locals from around area, the outlet demonstrates LuLu's intent to not only provide shopping opportunities in every part of the country, but also present equal opportunities for the local community to grow and experience a world class shopping environment.

The store was officially opened by Commerce and Industry Minister Shaikh Saad bin Mohammed Al Saadi.

The 200,000 sq ft LuLu Hypermarket is housed within the newly-built Nizwa Mall constructed by the LuLu Group. The anchor store has been designed to promote local products through the Origin Oman campaign, with dedicated aisles devoted for the display.

LuLu Group investments are spread all over the Gulf region, Egypt and Yemen and it now dominates 32 per cent of the retail hypermarket sector in the Middle East. Its expansion plan includes opening new hypermarkets in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Bahrain in the coming months.

Yusuffali said that the group's expansion plans were not affected by the world financial crisis as its business is relevant to the retail sector which was the least affected by the crisis. – TradeArabia News Service