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Bahrain’s store wars have claimed their first victim with retail big-gun Waitrose’s operators raising the white flag and starting to shut up shop on the island.
Supa Save Bahrain, which runs Waitrose shops under licence in the kingdom, has announced its decision to exit the Bahraini market.
The upmarket British supermarket, part of the John Lewis Partnership, extended its presence overseas with the opening of the first Waitrose shop in Amwaj Islands in 2011. It was the third branch outside of the UK with two stores operating successfully in the United Arab Emirates and a move which received global press coverage.
The store located at The Lagoon opened through the retailer’s partnership with Fine Fare Food Market (FFFM) and was managed by the latter’s subsidiary, Supa Save Bahrain.
Just nine days after dismissing GulfWeekly’s enquiries about its future with an emphatic statement that ‘Waitrose is not leaving Bahrain’, Colette Shannon, communications manager, confirmed the inevitable: “Despite strong customer loyalty to the brand, the sales required for a sustainable business were not achieved, and as such Supa Save Bahrain has made their decision to exit and is in discussion with several interested parties to take over the stores.
“Supa Save and Waitrose wish to thank their customers, suppliers and staff for their support over the past few years.”
The Waitrose branches at The Lagoon and at The Walk Mall in Riffa are already closed, while those in Al Hayat Shopping Centre in Mahooz, the Nakheel Centre in Saar and at Jawad Dome in Budaiya are still operational.
It was not clarified whether Waitrose will continue under new operators or whether a totally new chain or individual retailers will take over its premises.
The celebrations surrounding the arrival of the kingdom’s first Waitrose store were soon soured when an Alosra supermarket, part of the well-established BMMI group, opened in a prime location at the entrance to Amwaj Islands and attracted a large amount of passing trade from commuters.
Amwaj resident and British expat Liz O’Reilly believes that has been a major reason for Waitrose’s demise, alongside scrambling to find enough quality favourites. “Often you just couldn’t find the products you would expect to find there and it was so much easier for me to pop into Alosra on the way to or from the office – it’s six of one, or half a dozen of the other.”
Waitrose has also been operating in The Walk Mall in Riffa, Al Hayat Shopping Centre in Mahooz, the Nahkeel Centre opposite St Christopher’s School in Saar and took over the large Jawad supermarket at Jawad Dome, off Budaiya Highway.
Shoppers in Saar were left reeling at the news. British expat and mother-of-three Ellissa Williamson said: “I’m going to miss it hugely when it closes. I particularly liked its range of Waitrose Essentials, good quality products at great prices.”
Patrice Wright, also from Saar, said: “As a Brit I was delighted when Waitrose arrived in the kingdom. But I noticed things were wrong recently when I tried to buy its own brand soya milk, which is half the price of other brands, and they were forever running out of it. It was so annoying and out of frustration I stopped shopping there.”
Aussie mother-of-two Tracy Thornley, from Janabiya, was saddened by the news. “I’m gutted,” she said. “The store offered some great alterative products not found elsewhere in Bahrain.
“I’ll particularly miss the Australian Four ’n’ Twenty meat pies. I’m quite broken up by it, although there’s not been any in stock for a while.”
Supa Save Bahrain said it is currently ‘in talks with a number of prospective buyers’ and cannot discuss any of the details at this time.
There are strong suggestions in the marketplace that the Jawad Dome outlet will return to its former owner. However, Haseen Chhaya, Jawad’s group marketing manager, said: “We are not aware of the Waitrose plan and we do not respond to rumours and speculations.”
The retail sector in Bahrain has been heating up in recent years with Geant opening its easy and Gulf Mart stores, plus Alosra, Lulu and other companies expanding their operations.
