Luxury retail pioneer in the Middle East, Michel Shalhoub, dies at 89
Michel Chalhoub, founder and president of the luxury retailer Chalhoub Group in Dubai, has passed away at the age of 89.
Shalhoub, who has a net worth of $1.1 billion according to Forbes magazine, founded the group in 1955 with his wife, Wedad, in Damascus, Syria.
He remained the founder of the Chalhoub Group, the driving force of this growing Dubai-based company, which has more than 750 retail stores across the region and employs 12,000 employees.
The company currently has more than 750 retail stores in the region displaying luxury brands such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Christian Louboutin, and employs about 12,000 workers in 14 countries.
The company’s board of directors issued an obituary on July 31, saying, “With great sadness and sorrow, we mourn the late Michel Shalhoub, founder and chairman of the Chalhoub Group, at the age of 89.”
The company’s board of directors enumerates the exploits of the deceased as “a visionary who kept pace with the capabilities of the Gulf countries since the fifties, and went on a path with his wife, Wedad, to create together the Chalhoub Group, and he remained an ambassador of luxury, as his group continued to display many prestigious brands in the Middle East, and his group is characterized by an exceptional taste for products.” And the distinctive brands in the region that have greatly contributed to shaping the luxury market that we know today.”
Shalhoub, a French billionaire, born in Damascus in 1931, lived with his wife in Dubai, and their two sons, Anthony and Patrick, took over as co-CEO of the group in 2001. Patrick became the only CEO in 2018 following the death of his brother Anthony.
The Chalhoub Group is the only authorized body for LVMH in the Middle East and more than 300 other brands include Sephora, Tod's, Michael Kors, L'Occitane, Lacoste and Tory Burch.
It also owns one of the largest shoe stores in the world.
The Level Show store in Dubai is located on an area of more than 96,000 square feet (8,918 square metres).
Over the past three years, the group has transformed from a traditional retailer to a hybrid retailer with broader online access to shop in its stores.
Last year, the group revealed plans to reorganize its operations in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic to switch to online selling and e-commerce.
The companies managed by the luxury retail group fall into four business lines - joint ventures and strategic;
Growth, innovation and investment, processes and enablers, people and culture.
The company says that its founder is “a businessman adapted to circumstances, who established the group’s business and had to rebuild it after several historical events of turmoil and crises, as well as a passionate, dedicated and generous man who left behind a solid foundation and a legacy that inspires us at all times, and he is a loving husband.” And a passionate father, a loving grandfather.”
Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news