Battle of the Malls

  ABC Dbayeh: The Veteran Established back in 1979, ABC Dbayeh was one of Lebanon’s first department stores and is part of many a childhood memory — a fact that the ABC team proudly promotes. But, as any pioneer, ABC Dbayeh had to grow with the times and keep up with the competition or risk being left in the past. Tania Ezzedine, head of retail and marketing at ABC, explains that, historically, the motivation to expand the aging department store was driven in part by ABC’s strong customer relations program, which allowed them to tap into shoppers’ concerns and desires. ABC Dbayeh had its first major renovation in 2006 with the construction of the 8,000 square meters (sqm) children’s floor at the basement level, which included a variety of kids fashion brands and a play area (recently expanded again). Renovations then moved up floor-by-floor, with little tweaks in each until