First Debenhams opens in Sharjah

The first Debenhams department store in Sharjah was officially opened yesterday evening at the new Sahara Centre. The store brings some of the world's top high street fashion brands to Sharjah for the first time.

Known as 'Britain's favourite Department Store', Debenhams will cater for the whole family. The store was formally opened today by Debenhams Chairman Mr. Peter Jarvis, who flew in from the UK especially for the prestigious event, and by Mr. Mohammed Alshaya, Chief Executive Officer of M.H. Alshaya Co. LLC, the Middle East franchisee of Debenhams.

The Sahara Centre is the sixth Debenhams store to open in the Gulf. Debenhams also has stores in Dubai, Kuwait, Qatar, Riyadh and Bahrain where the first Middle East store opened in 1997.

Debenhams Chairman Peter Jarvis said: "I am very proud to be opening this exciting new store in Sharjah. We will be offering shoppers at the Sahara Centre our world-class mix of designer and high street fashion, beauty products, children's clothing and an exciting range of home ware products.

"As the largest anchor store in this superb new mall, we are looking forward to helping make the Sahara Centre a major success through our fantastic product offer and excellent customer service."

Sahara Centre Partner Mr Abdulrahman Bukhatir said he was delighted that they had been able to attract a department store of such high quality to the centre. "Debenhams will play an important role in attracting thousands of shoppers from Sharjah and other emirates to our new centre. The decision of Debenhams Chairman Mr Peter Jarvis to personally open the store demonstrates the company's commitment to the centre."

Debenhams is one of a number of M.H. Alshaya Co. LLC outlets that are opening at the Sahara Centre. Other stores are Next, Mothercare, River Island, Motivi, Claire's Accessories, Milano, MAC and Starbucks. ETAM will also open in the near future.

M.H. Alshaya Chief Executive Mr. Mohammed Alshaya said: "Today's opening is another important step in our strategy of offering world-class fashion and retail outlets to consumers across the Gulf. Debenhams has proved tremendously successful since we opened our first outlet in Bahrain. We are looking forward to a great future here at the Sahara Centre."

He added that M.H. Alshaya had opened over 170 stores region-wide in the previous year. "This was a very dramatic increase, adding up to a 30% growth in our number of outlets. We now have over 420 stores in the Middle East, and we are looking to expand even further in the coming year."

One of the highlights of Debenhams will be an exclusive range of designer clothes and home ware under the label 'Designers by Debenhams'. The range includes directional fashion by Jasper Conrad, John Rocha, Pierce Fionda, Edina Ronay, Ben de Lisi, Lulu Guinness and Maria Grachvogel.

Debenhams also has a wide range of labels that it has developed to meet the fashion needs of the whole family, including brands like Casual Club, Maine, Trader and Red Herring. The store has concessions for top fashion brands Evans and Oltre and the leading children's shoe brand Stride Rite.

The department store has an exciting range of accessories that are exclusive to the store, from hats to shoes, and jewellery to handbags, including hot designer labels like Lulu Guinness and Jasper Conran. Debenhams has also dedicated a large area to lingerie, including its own brands, and designer brands like Calvin Klein, Caprice and Janet Reger. In cosmetics, customers can select from the latest in cosmetics and perfumes, including top names like Chanel, Dior and Clinique, and exclusive brands like mea and Origins.

The homeware department offers quality goods at great prices for the whole home, from bathroom to bedroom and kitchen to dining room.

Debenhams Sahara Centre also has a 'personal shopper' service that is the first of its kind in the Middle East, making shopping even more convenient and fun.

ENDS