American brand Coach will open more stores and renovate the existing ones in the Middle East in the financial year ending June 2016. On the hand, it has decided to close down weaker stores in North America.
According to Coach president Giorgio Sarne, the brand has plans to open five new locations in the region, said, in an interview on Thursday. It already has over 20 stores in the region across the UAE, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi; Saudi Arabia; Bahrain; and Kuwait.
Dubai is Coach’s biggest market in the Middle East. It already has four stores here including at The Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates, and plans to open three more in 2015. Coach will also open a second location in Bahrain by mid-2016.
“Middle East is a promising market. We expect higher sales in the region in the next two years. So we’re investing a lot here,” shares Sarne. “For example, our UAE stores attracting an equal split of residents and tourists didn’t see any impact in changes in the tourist flow.” This despite the fact that the growth of the luxury retail market in the UAE has slowed down this year due to decline in spending by Russian and European tourists owing to the weaker rouble and euro.
Further Coach will also renovate its existing outlets in the region. In the UAE, it has already unveiled the new concept at The Dubai Mall outlet. “It’s a warmer expression of what the brand is; it’s a concept inspired by New York,” Sarne explains. By early 2017, all Coach stores in the country will imbibe the new concept.