Rusi Motiwalla

'The 'Key to the Cure' campaign was started in 1999 by the US Saks Fifth Avenue store in partnership with the Entertainment Industry Foundation and the Women's Cancer Research Fund.

'Since then, the company has raised $17 million, and we wanted Saks Fifth Avenue, Dubai to be a part of this international initiative,' says Rusi Motiwalla, General Manager.

'We are also strongly committed to serving the community in which we reside. The hard work and dedication behind the locally based Friends of Cancer Patients is an exemplar to be followed. I hope our mission to raise funds for cancer related charities will be strongly supported by our customers.'

The Dubai Saks Fifth Avenue is celebrating a very successful first year, after overcoming a number of initial difficulties with property completion delays. However, the demographic profile of customers has changed from that originally envisaged.

'In September 57% of our customers were UAE or GCC nationals compared with 22% when we first opened,' says Mr. Motiwalla. 'And our next biggest customer group is the Russians and former CIS countries at 22%.

'We are delighted to have secured this affluent client base, and clearly the UAE expatriate community and European tourists are much less important to us.'

Saks Fifth Avenue Dubai is already expanding its huge 80,000 square feet store with 8,000 square feet of corporate office space about to be converted to floor area for shopping. The same operating group also has the Saks concessions for all the GCC countries except Saudi Arabia which has a separate franchise holder.

Saks in Bahrain

'We have signed up space in Majid Al Futtaim's Bahrain City Centre shopping mall to open in September 2007,' says Mr. Motiwalla. 'And we are on the short list for one or two big malls in Kuwait, and are looking at options in Qatar.'

In Dubai Saks Fifth Avenue feels it has found the right home in the BurJuman.

'This will remain a human-scale mall with the highest concentration of luxury brand shopping in a single area. We think the bigger malls are not so good for luxury brands like ours.'

So Saks Fifth Avenue looks like another Dubai success story that has confounded the skeptics who thought high-fashion was not a market that would work in the emirate. Indeed, this large store has found a market niche that did not exist before but certainly exists now.