House of Fraser to open first overseas shops in Middle East

The move will be the first overseas store opening for the department store chain which has 62 stores in the UK and Ireland.

House of Fraser will target store openings in Cairo in Egypt, Riyadh, Jeddha and Dharan in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, Muscat in Oman and Doha in Qatar.

House of Fraser chief executive John King said: “We are delighted to announce our plans to take the House of Fraser brand to the Middle East. This forms a key element of our growth plans for the business, combined with the expansion of our own brands and the development of our multi-channel platform, both nationally and internationally.

“We believe House of Fraser has significant opportunities in key global markets positioned as a premium department store providing our exclusive brands and concession partners entry into new markets. We look forward to a long relationship with Retail Arabia International.”

Retail Arabia International is a retail venture of UAE-based group Daud Investment’s subsidiary Daud Arabian and investment bank Gulf General Investment.

Retail Arabia International has set up overseas franchise partnerships with toys specialist Hamleys, designer label Oscar de la Renta and jeweller David Morris.

International expansion is one of three key areas of growth outlined by House of Fraser for the department store in September last year, three years after the chain was acquired by Highland Acquisitions in November 2006 for £341m.

Last week, the 62-store department store appointed multichannel guru Robin Terrell to lead its ecommerce and international division.

It will up its proportion of own brands to command about one third of its total business.