private family owned industry fashion and footwear food health & beauty optics pharmacy home furnishings and leisure & entertainment founded part of alshaya group of companies founded in 1890 headquarters kuwait city kuwait area served middle east and north africa russia turkey and europe key people mr. mohammed alshaya executive chairman mr. wassim arabi chief executive officer products franchising chain stores number of employees 46 000 website http www.alshaya.com m.h. alshaya co. alshaya is a multinational retail franchise operator that is headquartered in kuwait 1 and operates more than 70 consumer retail brands across the middle east and north africa russia turkey and europe . 2 the company currently operates more than 3 000 stores in seven sectors fashion & footwear health & beauty food optics pharmacy home furnishings and leisure & entertainment and employs more than 46 000 people . 3 the brands managed and operated by alshaya include raising canes 4 mothercare 5 h & m 6 american eagle outfitters 7 debenhams 8 harvey nichols kuwait 9 payless shoesource 10 topshop 6 starbucks 11 shake shack 12 the cheesecake factory 2 pinkberry 2 p. f. chang s 13 le pain quotidien 13 katsuya by philippe starck 14 the body shop make up art cosmetics mac victoria s secret 15 boots pharmacy vision express pottery barn williams sonoma 16 kidzania kuwait 17 and milano . 18 19 contents 1 alshaya group 2 history 2.1 1890s 1970s 2.2 1980s 1990s 2.3 2000s 2.4 2010s 3 references 4 external links alshaya group edit m.h. alshaya co. is the retail business of the alshaya group of companies which was founded in kuwait in 1890 . in addition to its retail operations the alshaya group has holdings in real estate construction hotels automotive and general trading largely centred in the middle east . 2 its hotel division owns the sheraton hotel in kuwait and the oberoi hotel in medina saudi arabia . 20 history edit 1890s 1970s edit the alshaya group has been in retail since the 1890s initially trading with british india . in 1965 the group opened the sheraton in kuwait city then the middle east s only five star hotel south of beirut and the first sheraton outside north america . 5 1980s 1990s edit alshaya entered international retail franchising in 1983 with the acquisition of the kuwait franchise for uk retailer mothercare . 5 today the company operates stores for mothercare in 14 markets . in 1999 alshaya entered the food retail sector with a partnership with starbucks . 11 it now manages and operates multiple food brands including asha s dean & deluca 21 le pain quotidien 13 pizza express pinkberry p. f. chang s shake shack 12 potbelly 22 ihop the cheesecake factory texas roadhouse 23 and katsuya by philippe starck . alshaya launched its own footwear and accessories brand milano in 1994 . 18 19 2000s edit alshaya s acquisition of the topshop franchise for turkey in 2002 was its first expansion outside of the middle east . the company moved into russia in 2005 with the acquisition of the franchise rights for mothercare . 5 in 2006 alshaya launched international clothing retailer h & m in the middle east followed by a number of us headquartered brands looking to expand into the middle east dean and deluca 2008 express p. f. chang s 13 pinkberry and payless shoesource 10 all 2009 . 2010s edit in 2010 alshaya added american eagle outfitters 7 pottery barn and pottery barn kids 16 to its portfolio . it also secured franchise rights for the first international outlets of texas roadhouse 24 and opened its first victoria s secret beauty and accessories stores in the middle east in bahrain and kuwait . 15 in june 2012 the first the cheesecake factory and ihop restaurants outside north america opened in the uae . 2 in november 2012 a further eight brands were added to alshaya s portfolio harvey nichols kuwait 9 victoria s secret jack wills cos teavana garrett popcorn shops west elm and williams sonoma . 16 in december 2012 alshaya opened the alshaya retail academy in riyadh saudi arabia providing retail training and employment on graduation for young saudi women . 25 in april 2014 alshaya announced it would open two more alshaya retail academies in saudi arabia in jeddah and dammam . 26 alshaya moved into the leisure & entertainment sector in june 2013 with the opening of kidzania kuwait at the avenues kuwait . 17 sprinkles cupcakes veranda and muji 27 also opened at the avenues in the same year . katsuya by philippe starck 14 launched in kuwait and the uae and in december 2013 six alshaya restaurant brands were introduced to saudi arabia the cheesecake factory ihop texas roadhouse shake shack p. f. chang s and pizzaexpress . 28 in 2014 icing a popular us retailer of jewelry and accessories made its debut in kuwait as part of the alshaya portfolio . the opening represented the brand s first expansion outside the americas . 29 in 2016 alshaya launched its loyalty programme privileges club 30 in kuwait with plans to roll the programme out across its gcc markets . references edit master of eastern retail turns westward . financial times . a b c d e beth kowitt 12 february 2013 . m.h. alshaya the mystery company importing americana to the mideast . fortune . facts & figures . raising cane s . a b c d alshaya group spreads web of familiar brands through eastern europe . financial times . a b the family firms ruling fashion in the gulf states . the business of fashion . a b american eagle outfitters to open three uk stores . retailgazette.co.uk . franchising helps debenhams expand overseas . thefranchisemagazine.net . a b harvey nichols to open in kuwait vogue.co.uk . vogue uk . a b payless adds store in middle east . cjonline.com . a b starbucks corporation nasdaq sbux update starbucks issues highlights from annual shareholder meeting introduces cross channel multi brand loyalty program reaffirms outlook . benzinga . a b alshaya to roll shake shack out across middle east . arabian business . a b c d p.f. chang s to expand into mideast . arabian business . a b alshaya to bring new restaurant brand to gulf . arabian business . a b 5 things you didn t know about victoria s secret . retailgazette.co.uk . a b c ren e frojo 30 november 2012 . williams sonoma accelerating global growth . san francisco business times . a b rebecca mead 19 january 2015 . when i grow up . the new yorker . a b milano . alshaya.com . a b milano footwear shop the dubai mall . thedubaimall.com . gcc s most admired executives mohammed alshaya . arabian business . on the world s plates a bit of new york . the new york times . 2 january 2013 . kuwait s alshaya opens debut chicago s potbelly sandwich shop outlets . arabian business . tahani karrar lewsley . texas roadhouse prioritzes mideast expansion . marketwatch . kuwait s alshaya to launch mideast s first texas roadhouse . arabian business . alshaya retail academy for saudi youth opens in riyadh . saudi gazette . alshaya to open two more retail academies in saudi arabia . gulf news . kuwait s alshaya inks deal with japanese retailer . arabian business . alshaya brings 6 world class restaurant brands to le mall . arab news . http www.zawya.com story icing makes its middle eastern debut in kuwait zawya20140708080503 http www.privilegesclub.com external links edit alshaya website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title m.h. alshaya co. & oldid 729742998 categories companies of kuwaitretail companies of kuwait navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages t rk e 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