KUWAIT: Gulfmart, the fastest growing supermarket chain in Kuwait, added the 15th link to its chain of outlets across the country with the opening of a mini-supermarket in Abu Halifa, at 7pm on Friday. The new outlet was inaugurated by Satish C. Mehta, the Indian Ambassador to Kuwait, in the presence of distinguished guests and a large gathering of shoppers, well-wishers, and top management of Gulfmart.
Inauguration of the mini-supermarket in Abu Halifa was also an occasion for the iconic brand to launch their redesigned logo, lettering and livery. "The elegant and contemporary two-toned green leaf logo,new lettering for the brand name and related merchandizing collateral have all been designed to project Gulfmart's refreshingly young and dynamic outlook as it prepares to launch the second phase of its expansion drive in Kuwait," said Arif Sheikh, Managing Director of Gulfmart Group.
Adding that with the opening of Abu Halifa minisupermarket, the brand was also launching a rebranding exercise that would see all future Gulfmart outlets coming out with same new logo, lettering and livery, the managing director continued. "We expect that over a period of 9 to 12 months we will complete the change-over of our existing branches to the new brand design. On this occasion, I would like to emphasize that all this expansion and rebranding have been made possible only through the unstinted support and cooperation of our customers and well-wishers; we are extremely grateful to all our patrons." Pointing out that the new branch in Abu Halifa is the brand's second outlet in the mini-supermarket format, and the first to open in the fresh, new colors and design, Gulmart's Country Manager for Kuwait, Dr. T.A. Remesh, said, "By June of 2013, we plan on having 25 outlets in the country and to achieve this we will be opening ten more branches in different size formats across Kuwait. We will be opening our upcoming branches in line with our expansion strategy that entails three different format branches in the country - Mini-supermarkets that fall in the 800- 3000 sqft range, large format supermarkets that range in size from 8,000 to 40,000sqft and a hypermarket that extend from 60,000 to 100,000sqft." "Following the opening of our mini-supermarket in Abu Halifa, we will soon be launching a second mini-supermarket in Salmiya, this time along the popular Amman Street, and another mini supermarket in the residential district of Mahboula, in the near future.
Our large-format Supermarkets will include a third branch in Fahaheel of 30,000sqft, a second branch in Khaitan of similar area, and a 10,000 sqft third outlet in Hawally. A further five more branches will be added to our lineup during the first-half of 2013," added Dr Remesh. Top management officials of Gulfmart, present at the inauguration, expressed their optimistic outlook for the brand and confidently stated that brand Gulfmart would soon scale new heights and become the supermarket of choice for discerning customers in Kuwait.
© Kuwait Times 2012
