ABC (Lebanon)
ABC (legal name: ABC s.a.l. alias ABC Group, LinkedIn: ABC Lebanon), is a company operating ABC-branded shopping malls and department stores, as well as individual boutiques of fashion brands, in Lebanon with a total gross leasable area of 115,000 m2 (1,240,000 sq ft).[1]
The business dates back to 1936 with the opening of ABC at Bab Idriss Square, central Beirut, 580 m2 (6,200 sq ft) in size, followed by ABC Bab Borj at 350 m2 (3,800 sq ft) in 1940, and ABC Hamra 415 m2 (4,470 sq ft) in 1948.[1]
Robert Fadel served as Chairman & CEO from 2009 to 2017, and remains a member of the board of directors. The Harvard Business School case “From Beirut with Love” summarized his experience as head of ABC, his family business.[2]
Innovations
[edit]ABC claims many innovations in Lebanese and Middle Eastern retail, such as fixed prices (when bargaining was the tradition), employing women in its sales force, advertising, opening the Middle East's first "international standard" open-air mall, banning smoking, implementing waste management, opening the largest private photovoltaic plant in Lebanon and introducing magnetic gift cards.[1]
Locations
[edit]| Name | Opened | Closed | Shopping center | ABC Dept. Store | Mall stores | Movie theater (screens) | Parking spaces | Cafés and restaurants | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross leasable area | Built-up area | Gross leasable area | Built-up area | ||||||||
| ABC Verdun | 2017 | open | 50,000 | 155,500 | 6,463 | 10,600 | 200 | 11 | 1,700 | 16 | |
| ABC Achrafieh | 2003 | open | 40,000 | 126,500 | 7,800 | 13,500 | 105 | 7 | 1,200 | 21 | |
| ABC Dbayeh | 1979 | open | 25,280 | 44,250 | 24,157 | 44,275 | 285 | 8 | 12 (mall), 13 (dept. store) | ||
| ABC Furn El Chebbak | 1994 | closed | |||||||||
| ABC Kaslik | 1978 | closed | |||||||||
| ABC Zahlé | 1973 | now outlet | 415 | ||||||||
| ABC Hamra | 1948 | now outlet | 415 | ||||||||
| ABC Bab Borj | 1940 | closed | 350 | ||||||||
| ABC Bab Idriss | 1936 | closed | 580 | ||||||||
| ABC Tripoli (outlet) | closed | ||||||||||
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Dbayeh
[edit]In 1979 ABC opened what it claims to be the first true modern department store in the Middle East, in Dbayeh,[1] a city on the Mediterranean Sea between Beirut and Jounieh. It was 15,490 m2 (166,700 sq ft) in size. In 2009 it was expanded to a size of 44,250 m2 (476,300 sq ft).[1] At that time New York firm nARCHITECTS designed, based on the company's logo, a laser cut aluminum screen enveloping the 200,000 sq ft (19,000 m2) existing building, and inverse cut-outs to adorn the facades of the 250,000 sq ft (23,000 m2) addition.[3][4][5]
Achrafieh
[edit]In 2003, ABC opened its 126,500 m2 (1,362,000 sq ft) flagship shopping center including a 13,500 m2 (145,000 sq ft) ABC department store within it, the first international-standard open-air mall in Lebanon, in the upmarket central Achrafieh neighborhood.[1]
In 2017, agency KKD completed a redesign of the department store's interior.[6]
In November 2023 during the 2023 Israel–Gaza war, ABC Achrafieh was at the center of a controversy where it was claimed that the Palestinian keffiyeh was banned at the mall after an employee was told to remove their keffiyeh during work hours. It was also claimed that merchandise related to Palestine was removed. ABC later confirmed that the management did ask an employee to remove her keffiyeh due to the dress code for employees that bans religious and partisan symbols, but also said that customers are free to wear what they want, and said that they have no problem if one of their stores wants to sell merchandise related to Palestine. [7]
Verdun
[edit]In 2017, ABC opened its third mall in Verdun, southern Beirut, 155,500 m2 (1,674,000 sq ft) in size. ABC Verdun is home to 200 shops and a 10,800 m2 (116,000 sq ft) ABC Department Store. It measures 150,000 m2 (1,600,000 sq ft) and was developed on an ex-property of the Church in a joint venture with Bahaa Hariri, the Group of one of the sons of ex-Prime Minister of Lebanon, Rafic Hariri, murdered in 2005, whose other son Saad Hariri also served as Prime Minister. ABC Group holds 40% of the capital and operates the mall.[8]
The architectural design by Seattle-based CalissonRTKL is adapted to the climate, which avoids having to air-condition or heat the common areas: a large canopy houses the roof terrace where the restaurants and the garden are located. Below, the corridors are protected from rain but the air circulates and is refreshed naturally.[8]
Other stores
[edit]Other former ABC stores that are now closed include ABC at Bab Idriss Square (opened 1936), ABC Bab Borj (opened 1940), ABC Hamra (opened 1948, now an outlet store), ABC Zahlé (opened 1973, now an outlet store), ABC Kaslik (opened 1978) and ABC Furn El Chebbak (opened 1994).
ABC also operates 3 outlet stores: Tripoli (Lebanon), Zahlé, and in Beirut in the Hamra district. It operates standalone boutiques in its malls for three brands: Calvin Klein, Ted Baker and Tommy Hilfiger.[9]
In 2020 ABC launched an e-commerce site.[1]
External links
[edit]- Official website
- "Le Groupe libanais ABC ouvre son 3e centre commercial à Beyrouth". Ecommerce magazine France (in French). 31 August 2017. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g "Introducing ABC" (PDF). ABC. ABC. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
- ^ "From Beirut With Love (A) - Case - Faculty & Research - Harvard Business School". www.hbs.edu.
- ^ Carlsen, Heather (29 June 2013). "nARCHITECTS completes ABC store in high-tech fashion". designboom | architecture & design magazine. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
- ^ "ABC Dbayeh Department Store | 2013-08-16 | Architectural Record". www.architecturalrecord.com. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
- ^ "In Progress: ABC Dbayeh Department Store and Cinema Façade / nARCHITECTS". ArchDaily. 7 September 2011. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
- ^ "KKD redesigns iconic ABC Achrafieh department store in Beirut". Commercial Interior Design. 21 June 2017. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
- ^ "Keffieh Paléstinien Interdit à l'ABC Achrafieh" [Palestinian keffiyeh banned at ABC Achrafieh]. L'Orient Le Jour (in French). Retrieved 30 November 2023.
- ^ a b "A Beyrouth, le groupe ABC y croit encore" [In Beirut, the ABC group still believes: Despite the war a few kilometers away, a difficult economic situation and absent international investors, the ABC Group opens a 150,000-square-meter shopping center]. Les Echos (in French). 14 November 2017. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
- ^ "Stand-alone stores" and "Outlet stores", ABC website