PHOTO
Kuwaiti fragrance house to join more than 500 international and local brands at Qatar's largest leisure, retail and hospitality destination
Doha, Qatar - Doha Festival City, Qatar’s leading leisure, retail and hospitality destination, has announced Al Tayer Group will open its first flagship store of one of the GCC’s most iconic brands, The Fragrance Kitchen (TFK) at Doha Festival City. The Kuwait-based fragrance house will debut it’s first store in the country after it launched the brand at Qatar Duty Free, Hamad International Airport (DoH) earlier this year.
Founded in 2005 by Sheikh Majed Al-Sabah, a member of the Kuwaiti Royal family, TFK is one of the most highly anticipated stores opening at the QAR 6.5 billion mixed-use Doha Festival City.
Commenting on their plans to open TFK’s flagship store at Doha Festival City, Sheikh Majed said, "We have waited a long time to open our first store outside of Kuwait and Doha Festival City is the perfect location for this, with its carefully selected mix of retailers and international brands. We are excited to present our delectable fragrance recipes derived from rare ingredients, indigenous to the Gulf, and to showcase a fragrance experience never seen before in Qatar.”
Trevor Hill, General Manager, Doha Festival City Mall added: “Within the retail offering of the mall we have a very carefully selected range of iconic international and local brands, and believe TFK, one of the region’s most innovative and distinctly Middle Eastern labels, will prove to be one of the most popular destinations for our shoppers.”
Inspired by his ‘East meets West’ philosophy, Sheikh Majed has conceived TFK’s scent collections by uniting traditional aspects of Middle Eastern perfumery with the unrivaled expertise of a laboratory in Grasse, France the world’s perfume capital, where his three unisex perfume collections are analysed, executed and bottled.
Preston Antonini, Senior Vice-President of Beauty at Al Tayer Group, the largest luxury retailer in the Middle East with more than 200 stores, said: “We are delighted to bring Sheikh Majed’s personal touch to a full store environment. As the definitive leisure and retail experience in the country, Doha Festival City was our first choice to host the store. After launching TFK all over the globe, Qatar is turning out to be one of the most productive markets for the brand.”
Doha Festival City is home to a comprehensive mix of leisure, retail and hospitality options to explore and enjoy. The Mall is bringing a number of well-loved international brands to Qatar for the first time including LEGO Store, Kiehl’s, JCrew, and Muji. These outlets will complement the numerous well-known and loved brands including international department store Harvey Nichols, –that are set to deliver an exceptional level of service for a world-class experience.
-Ends-
About Doha Festival City
Set to open its doors in Q1 2017, Doha Festival City celebrates the best in leisure, retail and hospitality. With a gross building area the equivalent size of 94 football pitches, and a Gross Leasable Area of 244,000 sqm, the QAR 6.5 billion mixed-use development will include the biggest mall in Qatar and one of the largest leisure and retail developments in the Gulf.
Bawabat Al-Shamal Real Estate Company WLL (known as BASREC), is the developer and owner of Doha Festival City. BASREC is a joint venture which comprises Dubai-based Al-Futtaim Real Estate Services, Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), AQAR Real Estates Development & Investment Company, and a private Qatari investor. Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate (AFGRE) will be the managers and operators of Doha Festival City, one of the region’s most unique leisure, retail and hospitality offerings.
Doha Festival City is a leisure destination with a world-class entertainment complex, and will be home to indoor and outdoor attractions unique to Qatar. This comprehensive mix of entertainment and leisure – from Qatar’s first VOX 4D cinema complex with 18 digital screens, to outdoor spaces for exercise and cycling is designed to appeal to all ages. In addition, Doha Festival City will delight visitors with four unique theme parks, including “Angry Birds World” – the first of its kind in the Middle East, “Snow Dunes” - Qatar’s first indoor snow park, “Juniverse” – an edutainment park for children that harnesses the power of dynamic learning and “Virtuocity” - created exclusively for teens and adults, the park delivers an immersive digital experience.
Currently home to IKEA which has been trading since 2013, Doha Festival City will have more than 500 carefully selected international and local brands, many of which will be making their Qatar debut. Easily accessible and offering 8,000 parking spaces, the project will also see the addition of a five-star hotel and convention center which will break ground in 2017, opening in 2018.
For more information visit www.festivalcitydoha.com
ABOUT TFK
The Fragrance Kitchen's (TFK) first retail store and flagship boutique opened in May 2012 at AI Hamra Luxury Centre, the exclusive six-story Kuwait City shopping complex found within AI Hamra Tower, the tallest building in Kuwait. Sheikh Majed, a member of the Kuwaiti Royal family, is TFK's nose and retail visionary. He is renowned for introducing international high fashion to the Middle East by opening Villa Moda on Kuwait City's Gulf Road in 1992 and successfully establishing the breathtakingly designed retail emporium to include standalone boutiques by the finest European luxury brands. Sheikh Majed attracted a global clientele to Villa Moda, which today spans five Middle Eastern countries, and, all the while, his "passion for perfume" prompted him to hone his talent as a nose and mastermind TFK.
ABOUT AL TAYER GROUP
Al Tayer Group is a diversified regional business established in 1979 with its headquarters in Dubai, UAE. Since its inception, the Group has grown rapidly and currently operates in 12 countries in the Middle-East and beyond, with over 9,000 employees. It has built leading operations in multiple sectors, including automotive, contracting, retail and services.
In retail, Al Tayer Group has firmly anchored its position as the largest luxury retailer in the Middle East through the representation of major brands such as Alexander McQueen, Boucheron, Bottega Veneta, Coach, Dolce & Gabbana, Emilio Pucci, Giorgio Armani and Jimmy Choo, to name but a few. Al Tayer Group is also responsible for opening and operating the largest Harvey Nichols outside the United Kingdom as well as the first Bloomingdale’s stores outside the United States. Complementing its position in luxury retail, the Group’s portfolio also includes leading lifestyle brands such as Gap, Banana Republic and Crate and Barrel. Further, the Group has joint ventures with Bulgari, Ermenegildo Zegna, Gucci, Prada, Saint Laurent.
Headquartered in the UAE, the retail division has expanded operations to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman, and currently operates over 200 stores across the region.
For more information on Al Tayer Group, please visit www.altayer.com.
Media Contacts
Jelena Avramovic
Senior PR Manager
Qanect Marketing
P.O. BOX 200143, Doha – Qatar
Mobile: +974 6631 1861
Email: jelena.avramovic@qanect.com
Leah Lenihan
Assistant Marketing Manager
Al – Futtaim Real Estate LLC
P.O. Box 207122, Doha- Qatar
Office: +974 4408 3695
Mobile: +974 3354 3932
Email: leah.lenihan@alfuttaim.com
Kaye Rawlings
Account Director
Impact Porter Novelli
Emirates Towers, 21st Floor | Dubai, United Arab Emirates
M 971 50 858 7178 | T 9714 330 4030 E 422
Email: k.rawlings@ipn.ae
© Press Release 2017
