How Place Vendôme Became a Top 3 Luxury Mall in the Middle East | Shane Eldstrom (CEO, United Developers) - The Retail Podcast

Episode Transcript
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(00:19):
Hello and welcome back to a wonderful episode in the sunny
cans French sunshine of the Mappick Expo.
I'm fortunate enough to be joined by one of the main
speakers who will be on stage tomorrow.
Now, as most of the audience knows, I butcher most of the
introductions that I do. So we'll we'll take this in
part. I'm working with Shane from CEO

(00:42):
of United Partners for the Qatari and the French name so.
United Developers, the owners ofPlas Vendo shopping Centre.
Plas vendo sale Qatar in beautiful Qatar.
So Shane, the first question, what brings you to the South of
France and the map pig Expo? What are you going to be talking
about? Well, it is a conference that

(01:02):
I've enjoyed coming to for many years, not just because of the
weather, but also because of thelearnings, the innovations and
the access to some of the globalleaders in retail real estate.
And really, you know, the MiddleEast has been become a magnet
for the best in the world. And so we come here, we meet
them, we learn what's what to donext.
Oh, fantastic. So if I am correct you have guy

(01:26):
actually to be fair, let me let me take a step back.
A lot of retailers that watch the show in the Asia Pacific
region or in the US or even Europe may sort of lump the
Middle East rightly or wrongly as one trading market.
When it's not, it's lots of diverse different areas is would
you mind just sort of taking us through your like the Qatar

(01:47):
area, like give us some ideas ofthe demographics, what's behind
the success that you've had there?
Well, I, I think it's, it's fairto lump the Middle East in as a
single market and then a lot of people that come there will want
to look at a regional rollout. But each market is very, very
unique and requires its individual attention.
Qatar in particular, it's a country of about 3 million
people. The capital Doha is, you know,

(02:09):
in preparation for the World Cupthat we hosted successfully in
2022, they built out some of theworld's top infrastructure.
We have more than 20,000 five star hotels, more than 41,
sorry, 20,000 hotel rooms that are 5 star, 41,000 hotel rooms
in in total. And it's like kind of like the
city of the future in so many ways.
And it's an absolutely lovely place to be.

(02:30):
But the market is being driven alot by the local population.
The local population are some ofthe wealthiest people in the
world. And as with every market, they
have certain unique preferences.How old is the development?
So open April 15th, 2022, so it's about 3 1/2 years old now
and you know, as with any new project, it went through its
growing pains. But in Q1 last year plus Vendome

(02:53):
actually overtook one of our competitors to be the number 3
shopping centre for high end fashion in the entire Middle
East. Wow.
So we're very happy with that. It's.
Doing that's incredible. So tell me about if I'm
potentially thinking about a move to the Middle East, what do
I need to be thinking about? What makes my transition into
Qatar? You know that that little bit
easier. Well, we like to think there's
not a a lot to think about, justget on board.

(03:15):
But but reality is there are some unique aspects to it.
There's some unique logistics, there's unique supply chains and
there's unique laws around establishing companies and
things like that. All things that can be solved.
I in speaking to retailers, theyoften ask me, you know, can I
come in to Qatar directly? Am I able to, you know,
establish a trade licence and operate?

(03:35):
Absolutely. As with most of the Gulf, the
local ownership laws that used to require a 51% local partner
have fallen away and we're doingbusiness directly with with the
Europeans today and we're reallylooking forward to doing
business with many more in Asia today.
We're seeing a lot of exciting innovations in Korea, China,
Japan, and we can't wait to welcome them to our project and

(03:55):
our region. I love the fact that you said
about innovation. So I'm, I'm really curious.
You must have such a sort of access to so much data from the
people that already in the mall.When you look to the next five
years, what's your vision of retail specifically within your
development? What, what?
How do you see the future of retail?
We, we have a focus on, on the higher end side of things.

(04:15):
And I think what I'm seeing is it's, it's, it's all about
service, authenticity and sustainability.
I think our customers are choosing brands that
particularly have a voice and a purpose.
And when I talk about the service, you know, if you go to
Plas Vendome, you'll find it unbelievable.
We have 6 valet drop offs for our customers.
We have little golf carts that drive people around in the

(04:37):
shopping centre. It's quite large, so wouldn't
want you to hurt your feet. One of the innovative things
we're working with one of our partners on right now is
actually a Victoria lounge, which is actually going to be
connected to our hotel. And this is going to give you
access to stylists who will actually, they will, they will
mine your social media, find outwhat you like.
And as you arrive in this lounge, you're going to, you're

(04:57):
going to have a curated collection of the best of the
best. I've had the experience myself
and it's second to none. Oh wow, what does Victoria stand
for? A.
Very important customer. OK, all right.
Instead of a very important person.
OK, fantastic. I'm conscious that I'm hogging
up your time. You need to get back into the
conference. Where can people find out more
information? Well.
If they they're welcome to visitus at

(05:18):
www.uniteddevelopers.qaorplasvendomecatar.com.Fantastic.
Thank you so much.

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How Place Vendôme Became a Top 3 Luxury Mall in the Middle East | Shane Eldstrom (CEO, United Developers)

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}How Place Vendôme Became a Top 3 Luxury Mall in the Middle East | Shane Eldstrom (CEO, United Developers)