Waitrose UAE

[shawarma]

Update: More information here - Waitrose Dubai

• Waitrose is in a deal with Spinneys Dubai to set up 20 shops in the UAE by 2010.
• First time Waitrose will be operating a store outside the UK where it is based.
• First Waitrose shop to open April 2008 in Dubai, with area of 25,000 square feet.
• Another 2 Waitrose shops will open in July 2008 (Dubai Marina?) and October 2008 (Burj Dubai area - Dubai Mall?).
• Financial Times reports that 18 more Spinneys shops will be rebranded as Waitrose shops by 2010.
• See also UAE supermarkets

[shawarma]

I don't know what happened to the Waitrose that was meant to open in April 2008, or where. The first Dubai Waitrose opened in The Dubai Mall November 2008. A second Dubai Waitrose opened in Dubai Marina Mall January 2009. A bit smaller than the first one in The Dubai Mall, but appears to have mostly the same goodies.

Overall, Waitrose looks much the same as Spinneys (except the shopping bags are white and green instead of yellow and green), which makes sense since Spinneys had some sort of tie up with Waitrose anyway, and sold a few Waitrose products themselves. Maybe a few more goodies in the delicatessen counters. There seems to be a larger variety of bread but that might just be because they offer more tasting samples. Prices seem to be higher at Waitrose but that's an entirely unsubstantiated gut-feel estimate.

[tareq750m]

to tell you the truth the prices are really more expensive than Spinys