Sharjah gets two new Fono stores

The move follows the June opening of Fono's store at Spinneys roundabout, which marked the brand's entry into the emirate.

"Manned by specially trained sales and technical staff, the new Fono store at Sharjah City Centre will also include a walk-in Nokia service centre," said Robert Bie, General Manager, Fono. "The other standalone outlet will open in Sahara Mall."

Fono's Sharjah presence has already been reinforced by the signing of an agreement with Sharjah Co-operative Society for the opening of four stores-within-stores.

"The deal has enabled us to open the stores-within-stores at Al Rigga and Al Khan," said Bie. "By year end, Halwan and Al Sweihat will also open giving Fono a total of seven Sharjah outlets."

The Sharjah agreement follows Fono's recent tie-up with Abu Dhabi Co-operative Society. "Co-operatives have a proven, long-established, and strong loyalty base among their particular customer segment and will provide Fono with constant walk-in traffic," said Bie.

"The stores-within-stores will feature strong Fono branding and dedicated sales personnel in our effort to further enhance our brand awareness and provide seamless and uniformed services UAE-wide."

New Fono standalones are also planned next year for Al Ain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Lebanon, Syria and Oman to round-up the chain's Middle East network, which includes nine Kuwait outlets and one in Bahrain.

"We expect to have 40 UAE-based stores and a total of 100 outlets across the Middle East by end 2002," said Bie.