Jarir Marketing Company, a leading Saudi bookstore and wholesaleretail stationery supplier, initiated a new expansion plan with the opening of its first bookstore outside the Kingdom, in the Qatari capital, Doha. Other Gulf branches are expected to open in the future.
The new Doha branch cost 15 million Saudi riyals (four million dollars) to built, Chairman of the Board Abdulkarim Aqil told Al-Sharq Al-Awsat. It spreads over a 4,000 square meter area and displays more than 20,000 books, along with 5,000 office supplies items.
Aqil estimated that the Saudi school supplies market would reach SR 400 million ($106.6 million) this year, implying a five percent rise compared with 2000. Prices on the market are expected to drop by 15 percent this year, due to the lowering of customs in the Kingdom and a drop in the price of paper on world markets.
The Saudi computer and software market was estimated by Aqil at over one billion SR ($266.6 million) per annum, the largest market of its kind in the Middle East region. There are nearly 4,000 bookstores in the Kingdom.
Jarir Bookstore is a chain of 11 superstores displaying a wide range of products, including Information Technology (IT) items, English and Arabic language books, office supplies, school supplies, hobbies and crafts. Jarir showroom facilities range from 10,000 to 35,000 square foot in breadth, each carries over 70,000 items. The company’s workforce totals over 400 employees, including 240 salespersons.
Jarir Bookstore is either the exclusive or major distributor for Elba, Faber-Castell, Hunt, Learning company, Microsoft Press, 3M, Koh-l-Noor, Random House and others.
Jarir Publications translates business, computers, self-improvement and health bestsellers into Arabic, for leading publishing houses such as Prentice Hall, McGraw Hill, IDG, Pearson Education, Sybex and many others. So far 200 titles have been published by Jarir Publications, and the company aims to publish around 100 new titles each year.
Jarir Marketing is a Saudi closed-end joint stock company, with a 600 million Saudi riyal ($160 million) annual turnover. During 2000, the Bahraini Gulf International Bank (GIB) completed a placement of a significant minority stake in, and conversion to joint stock company status of the Jarir Marketing Company. Jarir represented the first private equity investment by GIB in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. — (menareport.com)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
