Géant offers refined shopping experience for consumers: Urban Foods CEO Mark Lack

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Mark Lack  and other guests at the opening of the new outlet. — Supplied photo
Mark Lack and other guests at the opening of the new outlet. — Supplied photo

The French retailing giant expands its footprint by opening its largest hypermarket in the country at the Dubai Hills Mall.

By Joydeep Sen Gupta

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Published: Thu 24 Mar 2022, 4:40 PM

Last updated: Thu 24 Mar 2022, 7:17 PM

Urban Foods, a grocery and household retail supermarkets and hypermarkets company, which operates the Géant brand in the UAE, opened its largest hypermarket in the country at the Dubai Hills Mall on Monday.

The brand is a part of Groupe Casino, a French retailing giant with a turnover more than €35 (Dh141.30) billion.


Khaleej Times spoke with Urban Foods Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Lack about how Géant is looking at adding a new dimension to the shopping experience for its consumers in the UAE.

Edited excerpts from the interview:


How big is the hypermarket in the Dubai Hills Mall?

The largest Géant hypermarket in the region is open at Dubai Hills Mall.

Conveniently located on the ground floor of the new mall, one escalator away from its own dedicated parking area in P1M, this Géant is designed to offer a more refined shopping experience — whether you’re doing a major weekly shop or just a daily grocery run.

It has a European open-air market look and feel, offers an abundance of choice and quality, thousands of organic options, restaurant-quality Food to Go and regular seasonal offers, besides numerous firsts for shoppers. This Géant outlet is a best-in-class addition to the affluent neighbourhood in the vicinity.

From the freshest produce and choicest meats, an in-house bakery, an unrivalled organic, gluten-free, and vegan foods section, a French-inspired cheese section and one of the city’s largest collections of established global foods, grocery shopping at the mall’s flagship hypermarket promises to be a treat.

Home delivery is also available via local delivery platforms and Géant’s highly reliable Your store to Your door service.

The shop floor is divided into comprehensive sections, unlike what you’ll see conventionally in local hypermarkets. For example, the laundry department,

not only has machines but you get the detergent to go with the wash. The baby and child section are comprehensive for your little darling such as from diaper genies to diapers, baby food to baby bath products.

The hypermarket also includes the Maison Marguerite, Géant’s in-house café concept, where shoppers can unwind with some coffee and conversation before or after they shop.

How many hypermarkets do Géant have in the UAE and the wider region?

This the second hypermarket in the UAE. The first hypermarket in the UAE opened at Al Khawaneej Walk in 2020.

What are your regional expansion plans?

Currently, Urban Foods operates established brands such as Géant, Franprix and Géant Express, across communities in the UAE with over 30 of them in the UAE.

This year, the plan is to open Monoprix in the UAE, not to mention continue the partnership with ADNOC to strategically place Géant Express stores within their portfolio of petrol forecourts.

We have a robust expansion plan that has gained major impetus this week. We also opened a Geant Express in Villanova on Wednesday and a Franprix in Dubai Hills business park will be opened next week.

Explain the ‘come back again’ loyalty programme of Géant.

From our themed departments to our in-store café, convenient location, technological features that enhance the shopping experience and delivery service, the emphasis at the Géant Dubai Hills Mall outlet is on ease, convenience, and comfort.

We see it vital that customers who live and work in the vicinity look at us at a one-stop shop replete with new options and experiences yet offering a select but also eclectic range of quality goods.

We promise a positive and dedicated in-store experience and are constantly fine tuning the on-floor priorities to make it even better. Our staff at Géant Dubai Hills will not sit behind counters but are interactive and at hand to suggest and advise, according to customer’s needs. Keeping in mind the location and the discerning clientele that resides in the vicinity, we have designed the premises and sourced the products to reflect their lifestyle and needs. — business@khaleejtimes.com


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