Hong Kong-headquartered health and beauty retailer, Watsons, has made its Qatar debut with its first store opening at Doha Festival City.
The Qatar launch is part of the retailer’s expansion plan in the Middle East where it opened the new store opening in Dubai Mall, Dubai Festival City, Mall of the Emirates and Al Wahda Mall in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Mall of Dhahran in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
“Despite the Covid-19 pandemic interruption, these stores were opened in less than 24 months,” said Jonathan Watts, GM of Watsons GCC at Al-Futtaim.
Spanning 300sqft, the Qatar store offers more than 200 brands from around the world, including skincare, haircare, and personal-care products. Some of the top pick brands include Deweytree, Holika Holika, Leaders, Superdrug, Target Pro by Watsons. The store also features designated zones such as Natural & Clean Beauty and an open makeup area.
Watson was brought into the Middle East by retail conglomerate Al-Futtaim in 2020. The partnership was AS Watson Group’s first franchise agreement since its interception and its first venture into the Middle East.
“Qatar is a truly vibrant and unique market,” said Watts. “The excitement is overwhelming as customers have been eagerly waiting for Watsons to expand across the GCC via our O+O (Offline plus Online) retail model, allowing beauty lovers of all generations to shop offline and online.”
