Ezdan Real Estate Company, a leading property firm in Qatar, has appointed Malik Q Awan, a widely-experienced veteran in the retail industry, as the chief operating officer for its upcoming mall.

Ezdan Al Gharafa Mall is set to open in September, it said in a statement.

Abdul Rahman Al-Najjar, deputy CEO of Ezdan Real Estate Company, said: “We’re extremely delighted to have a dynamic person like Awan as the head of our new Mall to manage this millstone in the shopping industry. Awan possesses a long hands-on experience that spans over two decades in the retail industry.”

Awan said: “I am happy to join the one of largest real estate group in the GCC region. What makes Ezdan stand out among the developers is ownership of the prime locations.”

“Since there are positive results in Qatar retail segment due to boom, the retailers are keen to expand in the country. However, it is hard for them to find a right location within new developments.”

“In recent years, new developers came up with shopping malls which exposed major gaps in the main categories in the merchandise mix. They fail to understand the importance of the positioning and merchandise mix in the malls, ending up with imbalance mall merchandise configuration. We will focus on the gaps in the market, when setting our merchandise mix strategy,” Awan added.

“Our mall is located at very strategic location. The Ezdan Mall Gharafa, which will have 400,000 sq ft area on three floors on the Al Shamal Road, is scheduled to open in September this year,” Awan continued.

“It is at the heart of the prime shopping district, surrounded by other shopping mall and a hypermarket, with 50,000 footfalls in the area. And once our Gharafa Mall and adjacent mall open, the footfalls are expected to double,” he said.

Planning and negotiation are in progress with major retailers to this end, he added. – TradeArabia News Service