A new Spinneys supermarket has opened at The Boulevard by Muscat Hills – Muscat Hills International Developments’ (MHID) 850,000 SQFT master development. The new store, which is located near the main entrance of the Links by Badr, was inaugurated by HH Rawy Al-Said (CEO & Chairman of MHID), Ilyas Malik (Deputy CEO of MHID & Chairman of Malik Developments), Ali Hassan Sulaiman (Chairman of Badr Investment Group), Johannes Holtzhausen (Vice Chairman of Spinneys), and Sunil Kumar (CEO) of Spinneys Dubai LLC.

Holtzhausen believes the growth in Muscat Hills is exactly the kind of market Spinneys can cater to, especially with more Omanis who care about their health. Speaking about the opening to Times of Oman, Holtzhausen said, “People think that we target British expats. No, British expats make a small percentage of sales, while the bulk is local. We don’t target ethnic groups, but rather lifestyles. We target people who want to live a healthy lifestyle and focus on not selling the wrong types of oils, or over-sugaring and over-salting. We have a strict set of rules in that regard and if people value a quality lifestyle, we target them.”

Spinneys’ Oman Operations Manager Naji Al Shaqri said, “We are close to 60 per cent Omanisation. In six stores, I have two Omani store managers, and I also have six Omani fresh food managers. All of our HR managers are Omani and of course, I’m also an example. We send Omani employees to South Africa and the USA for training. We care about Omanis and Omanisation since as we are in the country, we want to give Omanis priority.”

In January of this year, the Links by Badr opened its ground floor community center at The Boulevard that features a wide range of retail outlets such as cafes, restaurants, a juice bar, health care salons, among others.