GMG, a global well-being company operating leading brands across sport, properties and logistics sectors, has marked another milestone in its retail expansion strategy by opening Dubai’s first monop convenient store at Jumeirah Town Centre.
The monop convenience store caters to Jumeirah residents with a uniquely fresh and daily essential shopping concept, building on GMG’s promise of community food retail expansion.
The Jumeirah shop is the 26th store in the Groupe Casino portfolio and the 47th store among all retail food brands under the GMG Everyday Goods division. It is located on the mall’s ground floor, centrally located in the popular Jumeirah neighbourhood.
The store will offer a fresh and diverse selection of fresh produce and an extensive range of private label products by MONOPRIX and MAISON delivering the brand promise of “The Art of Food”. Committed to creating an impact towards sustainable and local product sourcing, monop will offer consumers the options of local fresh produce and vertically grown greens.
Mohammad A Baker, Deputy Chairman and CEO of GMG, said: “At GMG, we are constantly evolving to exceed our consumers’ expectations and looking at ways to innovate and support locally sourced products. monop will feature an indoor vertical farm, brought to you through our partnership with Bustanica, as well as, state–of–the–art fresh food and private label range under the monop concept in Dubai. We will continue exploring opportunities to expand to more neighbourhoods in Dubai and beyond and introduce more UAE residents to the GMG way.”
GMG acquired Groupe Casino operations in the UAE in 2022, with exclusive rights to expand the group’s operations in the Middle East. The acquisition included 18 Géant hypermarket and supermarket locations across the UAE, as well as Groupe Casino’s other brands, such as Franprix and Monoprix as well as monop, to which GMG also has exclusive rights to expand. The UAE edition of the French concept incorporates the best practices of the brand’s promise of quality food under the umbrella of “The Art of Living,” created and developed by the Monoprix mother brand.
GMG’s constantly evolving retail strategy comes amid a rapid expansion of the UAE’s consumer retail market. The segment is anticipated to grow at nearly 6% in the next five years and touch US$37.70 billion by 2027 because of the rising per capita income, a booming tourism sector, a growing number of expatriates, and new commercial projects, including malls.
Measuring 450 sq m, the monop store features an extensive range of high-quality products such as coffee, specialized imported cheese cuts from around the world, ready hot and cold meals, including a full range of signature Emirates Flight Catering meals, and an array of options in deli and bakery. The store also has the much-loved Monoprix brands and other grocery essentials, in addition to spices, nuts, and a variety of Maison nonfood products.
Marc Laurent, President, Retail - Everyday Goods commented: “monop is truly unique, a true representation of modern life convenience store, making quality food accessible for everyone. In line with our sustainability efforts to make a change, we are partnering with RECAPP by Veolia to facilitate a more sustainable way of living, by allowing consumers to recycle at our branch through in-store recycling stations for plastic, batteries and cans. In the coming months, we will expand our partnership across more of our retail stores, including Geant and aswaaq branches.”
To date, GMG has introduced over 120 brands and announced plans to double its global workforce by 2025. Currently, GMG employs over 10,000 people across all its verticals in 12 countries.
Furthermore, after the Aswaaq acquisition in February this year, GMG also added 11 community malls and 22 supermarkets to GMG’s rapidly expanding retail network, positioning the group as one of the largest operators of community malls in the UAE. – TradeArabia News Service