INDEX LIVING MALL ENTERS MIDEAST

       Retail is Detail, the first foreign franchisee of Thailand's Index Living Mall, has revealed plans to spend US$40 million to $50 million (Bt1.37 billion to Bt1.71 billion) to open 10 Index Living Mall stores in all the major markets of the Middle East within three to five years.
       Last week, the company opened its first 4,645-square-metre Index Living Mall outlet in Dubai Mall, the largest shopping complex in the United Arab Emirates' most populous city. The shop, which cost $5 million, carries more than 3,000 items of home-finishing products, of which 70 per cent are home accessories and the rest furniture.
       The store employs 41 staff, including 38 Thais.
       Index Living Mall is Thailand's largest home-retail chain, with 17 stores and combined retail space of 186,000 square metres.
       Retail is Detail director Sanveer Gill said his company was confident the flagship Index Living Mall outlet in Dubai would break even within a year.
       He said the company planned to open 10 Index Living Mall stores in many high-potential Middle East markets, including Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Retail is Detail's parent company, Gill Capital, is also planning to open Index Living Mall outlets in Singapore and Malaysia.
       "We are looking to open as many Index Living Mall stores as possible in a stand-alone format. They will have large retail spaces of more than 100,000 square feet [9,300 square metres] and will have store and warehouse altogether in one place," Gill said.
       Index Living Mall executive director Kijja Patamasatayasonthi said the Thai company had also been approached by investors in Austria and India, wanting to become franchisees and open Index Living Mall stores in their markets.
       "Our franchisee [Retail is Detail] has been offered huge retail space of 7,800 square metres by a mall developer in Bahrain. Another developer in Abu Dhabi has offered more than 10,000 square metres of retail space for an Index Living Mall in its shopping complex. This is because they believe Index Living Mall can be an attractive magnet for their shopping malls," Kijja said.
       Gill said Dubai received 30 million tourists a year and was a perfect place for Index Living Mall to be seen.
       "Despite the recession, which causes the crash of banks and real-estate industries, the purchasing power of people in Dubai is still there, because they produce oil and natural gas. They still have money to spend," Gill said, adding that 85 per cent of visitors to Index Living Mall in Dubai Mall bought something.
       "During times of recession, people must spend more time at home. They also love to invest money for home improvement," he said.
       Gill said 60,000-80,000 new houses and condominium units were delivered to owners in Dubai last year. The number has fallen 20-30 per cent this year.
       "However, we believe the recession in Dubai will stabilise by the end of this year," he said.
       Retail is Detail was formed six months ago as the investment arm of Singaporean-based Gill Capital to care for the group's retail expansions in the Middle East. The company has already opened eight retail stores in Dubai Mall, six of which are well-known franchise operations from markets around the world.
       They are an Ethan Allen furniture store from the US, Index Living Mall from Thailand, a Gina ladies' shoe store from London, a Stella Luna ladies' shoe store from China, Vince Camuto ladies' shoes from the US and a Hershey candy and chocolate shop from the US. The company's own retail brands, which have also opened in Dubai Mall, are I Wanna Go Home furniture store and Candylicious candy and chocolate shop.
       "We want to expand these retail brands to the rest of the Middle East," Gill said, adding that the company planned to open a new Index Living Mall outlet in Bahrain
       or Abu Dhabi within nine to 12 months.
       He said his company discovered Index Living Mall last August, when his father and mother visited Hua Hin on holiday. They had dinner in town, accidentally came across the Index Living Mall outlet and liked it very much.
       "Index Living Mall made a good first impression, backed by strong visual merchandising, customer service and good product quality," Gill said.
       Index Interfurn Group president Pisith Patamasatayasonthi said his company had already opened seven Index Living Mall outlets in Bangkok alone.
       "We want to have 10 outlets serving all of Bangkok's major areas in the near future," he said.
       In addition to a new Index Living Mall that will open at kilometre 5 of Bang Na-Trat Road this year, the company will spend |another Bt1.2 billion to open two new stores on Ratchaphruek and Ram-Indra roads.