Rafiq Vayani
DUBAI: Union Coop, the largest Consumer Cooperative in the UAE opened ‘Coop Factory’ – one of the largest commodity warehouses in the Middle East and its wholesale branch to sell food and non-food commodities. The new warehouse is located in the Al Tayy suburb – Dubai and will sell commodities at wholesale prices, which will be at discounts ranging between 15 to 20%.
Talking about the importance of this initiative, H.E. Khalid Humaid Bin Diban Al Falasi, the CEO of Union Coop said: “This comes within the framework of supporting the wise leadership’s direction and translating the rational aim of providing sustainable food resources in the country and building a food security system as a top priority, and in response to the statement of H.H. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, which said ‘The process of the food supply is sustainable and will not be affected and is a top priority for the state’, and to contribute to supporting the policy of the Emirates Food Security Council and relevant government agencies.”
Further appealing to the government authorities, Al Falasi said: “We appeal to the competent government authorities to fasten the process of necessary approvals and paperwork so that it enables us to match our ‘project and branch’ opening timelines,” and he also appealed to the competent authorities to implement necessary roads and infrastructure facilities surrounding the new projects and branches so that the facility is easily reachable to the consumers, travelling from different regions of Dubai. All this comes under Union Coop’s endeavor to promote happiness of consumers in particular and society in general.
Al Falasi further highlighted that: “The new branch includes about 10,000 food and non-food products with a capacity to accommodate over 200 shoppers at a time, with the supermarket spanning a total area of 15, 000 sq. m. in a strategic area away from congestion,” adding that the new branch is designed on the concept of self-service.”
Al-Falasi added, “Since the beginning of the crisis, Union Coop provided strategic commodity stocks without charging the state or the shareholders any additional expenses or burden and contributed to building a food security & support system and maintaining the stability of markets and prices in the country, as well as harness all the capabilities to serve the country and the citizen away from material goals, indicating that the new branch represents a kind of community service because the profit margin covers operating expenses only, which guarantees the best prices while maintaining the high quality of products “.
Noteworthy information is that the total area of the warehouse and the Union Coop branch comes around 424, 442 thousand sq. ft. The facility is equipped with the best modern technology to secure a sustainable commodity stock that meets all needs in different circumstances.
