Holding the middle ground

On the clouded horizon of Lebanese retail in 2015, the next quarter’s biggest bang in fashion retail may well be a new store in the, recently often maligned, Beirut Central District. Come this spring, Hamra Shopping and Trading Company (HST), best known for its retail brand Grand Stores (GS), will open a new retail space smack in the center of downtown Beirut, facing the Souks and 200 steps from the security cordon around Nejmeh Square. With about 2,400 square meters (m2) in sales area, the new GS multibrand store will be the company’s largest. “This project consists of four floors, each comprising around 600 m2, and it will be our flagship store, taking us to the next era as a company and as retail[er] in Lebanon. We are designing and planning and working [so that] this store [can] really cement our presence in the retail market in the region,” says