A slew of recent homeware store openings shows that the Middle East’s demand for luxury homeware has hardly diminished. SHALAKA PARADKAR reports

Farooq Kathwari of Ethan Allen

We are living through one of the worst economic crises of modern times, yet recent high-profile store openings in the region show that optimism still prevails; we may well be at the tail end of the recession.

Spending on design and décor is seen as a non-essential but defying conventional wisdom, consumers are still dipping into their discretionary funds to improve their homes and offices.

Industry experts say the emphasis in today’s market conditions is more on value and longevity, rather than what’s fashionable and of the moment.

Farooq Kathwari, chairman, president and CEO of Ethan Allen Interiors, points out that the crisis has seeds of opportunity. Falling rents in Dubai enabled the US-based furniture chain to open one of their largest design centres outside North America, in partnership with Retail is Detail.

“In the last four years we have changed and expanded Ethan Allen programmes by more than 80% to reflect a more international brand of design,” he said during the inauguration of the $4m, 12,160 sq ft store in Dubai.

“As we move forward we will be taking Ethan Allen into many other markets. As a vertically integrated company with 300 design centres in North America and 40 outside USA, we are able to leverage our existing manufacturing capabilities, infrastructure, information systems and logistics to make it easier to tap into the Middle East market.”

Kathwari believes that retailers can ride the recession by offering improved services and unique products. Ethan Allen’s interior design service for instance, employs 2000 designers all over the world who do home consultations.

Ethan Allen isn’t alone. This month another US giant, Crate & Barrel will be expanding into the Middle East, in a tie-up with Dubai’s Al Tayer group.

Al Tayer is also going ahead with the planned expansion of @home stores, a South African brand which is part of the Foschini group. Luxury store Bloomingdale’s has already opened its flagship international store in Dubai, with 54000 sq ft dedicated to homeware.