Dubai gets taste of Turkish delight from Mudo City

Mudo City has opened a flagship store and plans to expand across the country. This is a shop where you can buy a Dh60 T-shirt or a piece of furniture for more than Dh11,000.

Under one roof: the Mudo City store in Dubai Mall mixes the store's brand types: fashion, home decor, furniture and sailing accessories and maritime clothing. Jeff Topping / The National

First the British, then the Americans and now the Turks.

The retail sector in the UAE is starting to resemble a United Nations assembly with all the major players on show in shopping centres across the country.

Already global brands dominate the malls in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and now the niche retailers are moving in with a trendy Turkish label the latest new kid on the block.

Trade between Turkey and the UAE is growing at a rapid pace, with the value of exports and imports between the two forecast to double in just three years to US$10 billion (Dh36.7bn) in 2015.

Given the blossoming relations between the two countries, it was only a matter of time before one of its biggest retailers decided to set up shop here.

Mudo City, a retailer founded in 1964 that now has more than 130 stores across Turkey, launched a flagship store in Dubai Mall on Sunday.

The brand is a rare mix of affordable clothing, starting from about Dh60 a T-shirt, as well as shoes, home accessories and a huge range of quirky furniture, with pieces priced in excess of Dh11,000.

Picture a curious mixture of Zara, American Eagle Outfitters and The One furniture store, all under a single roof.

"People are always looking for something new. This is new. I know it excites me when I go into a Mudo shop," says Ayman Al Jamil, the managing director for Asadel, the Turkish brand's local partner in the Gulf. "With other stores, you've been there, done that. In these shops, it's something new."

Asadel plans to spend in excess of $10 million in rolling out the label's different concepts in 12 to 16 stores across the Gulf.

"Of course, finding space and locations is not the easiest thing, especially in the better malls. The brand, the novelty and uniqueness of the concept is what most malls look for," adds Mr Al Jamil.

The Mudo City store in Dubai Mall is a mixture of the brand's five types of stores, two of which are fashion, one is for home decor, one for furniture and one selling sailing accessories and maritime clothing.

With an incredible eye for detail, Mustafa Taviloglu, the founder and chief executive of the brand, walked into the new store barking orders and even picked out a stray thread on the fabric of a chair.

"Everybody buys at Mudo. Secretaries, ministers' wives, sheikhs," says Mr Taviloglu.

Here he talks to The National about expansion outside Turkey and why he sometimes has to act like a fisherman.

There are lots of new brands setting up in Dubai. Competition is hotting up, so why are you opening here?

Dubai is Dubai. The city is the dream for everybody. It is one of the best places to go for me. When people move abroad, the first city they think is here. Because everybody is here. I like the people. I like the competition.

You have been in business for almost 50 years. Why did you not expand outside Turkey before?

When people asked me in Turkey, I said … I don't want to be a world label. I want to be brand in Turkey. I told everybody this. If I'm not a big brand in the Turkish market, it's impossible that I can be a brand in the world. But I now have 130 shops in Turkey. Every year we have grown [sales] and now I understand it is time to go outside.

There are many successful brands here already, so how will you differentiate your label?

My merchandise is world merchandise. My brand is Turkish, but my merchandise is for the world. It speaks the world language.

But what about Zara, Ikea and H&M? These are globally respected and successful brands that you will have to compete against. Do they not also speak the "world language"?

I compete with all these world brands in Turkey. In my country, Zara is next door. Ikea is 500 metres away. I have grown sales every year and these brands know me very well.

So your shops are very profitable?

When I call a shop, I never ask how much they make. I ask, 'How is business?' I'm a fisherman. A fisherman never says how many fish he catches. It's a joke but we really don't like to talk about how much money we make.

What about quietly telling us how much in sales you will make this year?

About $270m in sales. It's not big business by any market, but it's good business. I don't care about the money. When you look in my pocket, I don't have any money.

Turkish brands are not well known throughout the world. Will that be a hindrance to growth?

All the brands that are here are old. We are something new. We sell a lifestyle. Also when you say Turkey in the Gulf, there is interest. Someone started crying outside the store yesterday because it was coming. In all the big shopping malls in Turkey, Mudo is the anchor.

Still, Mudo City is a highly unusual concept in that it sells a range of different clothing, luxury furniture, shoes and home accessories. Do you think this will be difficult to sell to shoppers?

Mostly, these kind of things, you find in the big department stores. Everything is together. But sometimes people do not like the department stores. I have used this concept for 15 years in Turkey. People like it when it is all together. There is also one difference from a department store. Department stores mostly sell other brands. You see items in their store, that you can see in other shops. But Mudo, we sell only our own items.

You pick out a lot of the furniture and clothing pieces but you must have a big team behind you in Turkey?

This company was built in 1964 with three people in a 12 square metre store. Now we have a furniture warehouse that is 47,000 sq metres and a textile warehouse of 27,000 sq metres. There are 2,350 people working and 130 stores. There is a design team and a buying team, of more than 50 people.

What are your plans for global expansion?

We have plans to expand throughout the UAE in Dubai, and Abu Dhabi and other cities in the UAE. From there, to the rest of the Gulf area as well. We are also very strong in the business to business [sector] for restaurants and hotels. The new store is going to be the showcase for the whole GCC. Dubai Mall is the best mall in the GCC.

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