Arkadia Group, Mizzi Organisation’s retail business, currently has two new store concepts in incubation in Gozo and plans further expansion of its retailing arm with these and other ventures in Malta and overseas, managing director Brian Mizzi told The Times Business.
Pearl has recently been introduced to the Arkadia shop-in-shop in Victoria and consumer patterns are currently being analysed. Mr Mizzi said customers have received this concept “extremely well” so far and the group will translate it to Malta when suitable locations are identified.
Mr Mizzi describes Pearl as a total health and beauty retail concept – “Boots without prescription drugs” – developed to satisfy a clientele increasingly seeking ‘one stop shop’-style concepts. A new concept that will be launched in the coming weeks is Circle A which will be a newsagent and convenience store operating seven days a week on extended hours stocked with a wide variety of products.
Consumer demand for more convenient shopping hours, particularly on Sundays, has increased significantly over the last few years, but Sunday trading has been a contentious issue in the past. After the Gozo Business Chamber presented its case to the minister, the green light to operate on Sundays and Public Holidays was given.
The group is also working to take some of its other brands – Orsay, Piazza Italia and Peacocks – to other destinations in Malta, Europe and North Africa.
“Arkadia has firmly positioned itself as one of Malta’s top fashion retailers, and today the Arkadia Group commands an annual turnover of over €27 million becoming one of the pillars within Mizzi Organisation,” Mr Mizzi said.
Arkadia was one of the islands’ first shop-in-shop retail concepts, and proved particularly useful to the group as a facility to test the local market. Doomsayers had originally dismissed Arkadia as an over-ambitious project, but the foresight of Mr Mizzi and his team proved them wrong. In 10 years it has been remoulded from its original function as a commercial rental opportunity and has launched several international brands on the local market successfully. All the while, it consolidated its position on the sister island as a primary shopping destination for Gozitans and Maltese and foreign visitors.
Significantly, an entire generation of future consumers grew up with Arkadia as it unveiled a string of well-priced fashion brands that appealed to a very particular market, Mr Mizzi pointed out.
Gozitans’ response to Peacocks of London was extraordinary and the Gozo store soon acquired the highest turnover figures per square metre in Europe. Stores were opened in Sliema, Valletta and Paola, and four others opened their doors in primary shopping locations in Slovakia. The group is currently examining additional locations for this franchise in Slovakia and in neighbouring emerging markets.
Piazza Italia too first opened its doors in the extension of the Arkadia complex. After a second store was unveiled in Birkirkara, another is to open in Sliema in the next months.
Orsay, the attractively-priced female fashion brand, is also currently in incubation in Gozo but opens in Birkirkara next month followed by a third store in Sliema soon afterwards.
“In terms of turnover, Arkadia Group is now positioned in the same bracket as General Soft Drinks, our beverage manufacturing and bottling business,” Mr Mizzi said.
“I am foreseeing interesting and exciting opportunities in the retail sector in Malta but particularly overseas. The sky is the limit for Arkadia Group.”
The Mizzi Organisation has also been involved in tourism for the past 25 years starting with a block of self-catering apartments in Sliema that were replaced by the four-star Waterfront Hotel.
“Thanks to the team at the Waterfront we have managed to ride the recession quite well and are ahead of average industry levels with regards to occupancy and room rates in the current year,” Mr Mizzi said.
Even in this sector, Mizzi Organisation has sought ways to expand the business and have created the Star Café concept, the Basilico Restaurant and recently launched Seasons Caterers.
Brian Mizzi is the managing director for The General Soft Drinks Co Ltd, Arkadia, Waterfront and IELS. He also represents the Mizzi Organisation in a number of companies mainly the Plaza, Mellieha Bay Hotel and Kemmuna Ltd.