British retailer WHSmith has won three tenders in partnership with Oman’s Ajit Khimji Group to run a total of seven stores in the new Muscat International Airport passenger terminal, a report said.

These seven stores will add 5,972 sq ft to WHSmith’s footprint outside the UK, with this consisting of five NBC stores, one Landside Express by WHSmith convenience store and one Memories of Oman souvenir store, reported Oman Observer.

 The souvenir store will be the first of WHSmith’s new look and feel ‘Memories Of’ store in the region. The WHSmith Express store will also be the first of its format to open in the Middle East.

“We are delighted to be able to expand our business in Muscat International Airport, bringing new concepts and formats to the region,” WHSmith international director Louis de Bourgoing was quoted as saying in the report.

“Muscat was our first overseas business in our recent international expansion and is special to us. Oman is a country we particularly like and we have a terrific partner in the Ajit Khimji Group, with whom we intend to build yet stronger ties,” he added.