# Huxberry Dubai Store-Location Strategy

_Prepared as a clean handoff for Rajiv. This document contains only the Huxberry Dubai showroom-location discussion._

## Executive question

What is the best flagship strategy for Huxberry over the next decade, measured by return on capital, showroom productivity, brand strength, and assortment depth—not by Sheikh Zayed Road prestige alone?

The decision is time-sensitive: the current Sheikh Zayed Road lease is ending in roughly 60 days.

## Confirmed facts provided in the discussion

- Huxberry currently operates a Sheikh Zayed Road store of approximately 5,000 sq ft.
- Current annual rent is approximately AED 700,000.
- The landlord has requested approximately AED 2.4 million annually on renewal. At that level, the existing store is considered unviable.
- A possible smaller Sheikh Zayed Road option has been discussed at approximately 2,000 sq ft and AED 800,000 annual rent. Earlier discussion also referred to a possible 2,500 sq ft option; the exact size and commercial terms need confirmation.
- Huxberry has a second Dubai store at Dubai Festival Plaza, approximately 3,000 sq ft, in a mall past Ibn Battuta Mall. Its intended role is to cover one side of Dubai while the former Sheikh Zayed showroom served as the main landmark location.
- Huxberry is differentiated by organic and natural mattresses. The purchase is highly considered rather than an impulse purchase, creating a potential destination-retail model.
- The team believes a main showroom may need to be larger than the Festival Plaza store and function as a landmark showroom.
- Going below approximately 4,000 sq ft would likely mean fewer mattresses and fewer sofas on display. It may also require dropping kitchens entirely, closing off a possible business line.
- A decision is needed within roughly 60 days because the Sheikh Zayed lease is ending.

## Core strategic thesis

Huxberry may not need to depend primarily on passing traffic. Because its organic and natural mattress proposition is differentiated and the purchase is planned, customers may be willing to travel to a showroom that offers the best depth of experience, product education, materials storytelling, and assortment.

Under this hypothesis, a destination showroom in a lower-cost design or furniture district could outperform a smaller, high-rent Sheikh Zayed Road showroom. The relevant question is not whether people visit Al Quoz specifically to buy a mattress; it is whether affluent customers will travel for the best premium organic mattress experience in the UAE.

This remains a hypothesis, not an established fact. It should be tested against customer-origin data, appointment demand, competitor evidence, and unit economics.

## Location options to compare

### 1. Sheikh Zayed Road

**Known situation:** The current 5,000 sq ft store is exposed to a proposed AED 2.4 million annual renewal, which is not viable. A smaller replacement around 2,000 sq ft and AED 800,000 annual rent has been discussed.

**Hypothesis:** Sheikh Zayed provides visibility, accessibility, and perceived status, but a smaller store could compromise assortment and experience while still carrying a high rent burden. The location is only justified if it creates enough incremental sales, conversion, or brand value to cover the premium.

**Required validation:** Confirm the exact unit, rent, service charges, frontage, parking, visibility, achievable sales, and whether the location can support the required product mix.

### 2. Al Quoz

**Known discussion:** Al Quoz has traditionally been a warehouse/industrial district but is increasingly associated with design firms, furniture, interiors, and destination businesses at lower rents.

**Potential strategic fit:** The area could support a larger, more complete showroom at a lower cost, with targeted marketing compensating for lower spontaneous traffic.

**Referenced businesses:** The discussion mentioned Collectic and also referenced the name Klekktic, alongside other design/furniture businesses. These references were raised as examples of destination-oriented home and design retail; their current locations, performance, exact business models, and comparability to Huxberry were not verified in the conversation. They should be checked before being used as evidence.

**Hypothesis:** Customers already travel to Al Quoz for considered furniture and design purchases. If so, Huxberry could participate in an existing destination-shopping pattern rather than trying to create one from scratch.

**Required validation:** Map relevant premium furniture, kitchen, interiors, lighting, and design businesses; verify tenure and investment; identify customer catchments; observe traffic; and establish whether their customer missions resemble Huxberry’s mattress-shopping journey.

### 3. Al Wasl Road / Umm Suqeim

**Known discussion:** These areas were raised as alternatives. They appear to be priced similarly to Sheikh Zayed Road, but this requires confirmation.

**Hypothesis:** Al Wasl and Umm Suqeim could offer residential and premium-brand adjacency, but may risk combining Sheikh Zayed-level rents with less road-scale visibility and potentially less efficient showroom economics. They could be the worst of both worlds unless they deliver a clearly better customer catchment or brand fit.

**Required validation:** Compare rent, size, access, parking, visibility, adjacent premium home brands, customer origins, and achievable sales per sq ft on the same basis as Sheikh Zayed and Al Quoz.

## Role of the Festival Plaza store

The approximately 3,000 sq ft Festival Plaza store changes the network question. It already provides coverage on one side of Dubai, so the next location does not necessarily have to repeat every role.

The second location could be designed as the main experience or flagship showroom: broader assortment, deeper product storytelling, more mattresses and sofas, and potentially space to develop kitchens. Alternatively, the network could remain two smaller, more specialized stores—but that would need to be an intentional strategy rather than an accidental consequence of rent pressure.

The team’s view that the main showroom should be larger than Festival Plaza is a reasonable strategic consideration, but it needs to be tested. A flagship should be defined explicitly as either:

1. a brand statement and destination experience;
2. a high-productivity sales showroom; or
3. a broad home-furnishing platform that keeps future categories open.

Those roles may require different sizes and locations.

## The size and assortment trade-off

The central issue is not simply Sheikh Zayed versus Al Quoz. It is also small showroom versus full-range showroom.

Below approximately 4,000 sq ft, Huxberry may lose:

- mattress breadth and the ability to demonstrate comfort/material differences;
- sofa breadth and living-room display impact;
- space for customer education and considered decision-making;
- the ability to introduce or develop kitchens;
- optionality for a broader home-furnishing proposition.

Every product not displayed is a product story that cannot be experienced in-store. If kitchens are important to the five- to ten-year strategy, dropping them is not merely a visual compromise; it is the closure of a potential business line. The financial model should quantify the gross profit and strategic option value lost under each size scenario.

## How to test the location hypotheses within 60 days

### Public and market evidence

- Map premium home brands, furniture retailers, kitchen businesses, interior designers, lighting companies, and destination design businesses in Al Quoz, Sheikh Zayed, Al Wasl, and Umm Suqeim.
- Verify the examples cited in the discussion, including Collectic/Klekktic, before treating them as comparable evidence.
- Record location, size, tenure, frontage, parking, visible investment, opening hours, and apparent customer activity.
- Identify new affluent growth neighborhoods, including Jumeirah Golf Estates and The Oasis, and run a parallel workstream to identify other future-growth neighborhoods Huxberry may currently overlook.

### Customer-origin and travel analysis

- Map the home locations of current high-value customers, not only total customers.
- Measure how far customers already travel, how they discovered Huxberry, and whether visits are appointment-led or walk-in.
- Separate customers who buy mattresses from those who buy or inquire about sofas, kitchens, and other categories.
- Test whether the current business already behaves like a destination retailer.

### Digital demand tests

- Run comparable geo-targeted campaigns for each candidate district.
- Use equivalent landing pages such as “Huxberry Flagship Showroom — Al Quoz” and “Huxberry Flagship Showroom — Sheikh Zayed Road.”
- Measure qualified appointment requests, calls, map-direction clicks, product enquiries, and deposits—not just impressions or clicks.
- Where possible, test different showroom propositions: “largest organic mattress experience,” “full natural home collection,” and “appointment-only design destination.”

### Physical observation

- Conduct weekday and weekend drive-arounds.
- Count vehicle movement, parking availability, pedestrian activity, showroom entrants, and customer appointments at relevant comparable businesses.
- Observe travel friction, turning access, signage, loading, and whether customers can comfortably spend time in the showroom.
- Speak with nearby retailers and designers about customer origins, discovery channels, repeat visits, and seasonal patterns.

### Unit-economics model

For every option, model at minimum:

- annual rent and all occupancy costs;
- available sq ft and display capacity;
- mattresses, sofas, kitchens, and other categories supported;
- required sales per sq ft to break even;
- required sales per sq ft to achieve target profit;
- gross profit by category;
- marketing spend required to create destination demand;
- expected showroom productivity and conversion;
- network overlap with Festival Plaza;
- brand and future-category value.

The key comparison is not rent alone. It is the gross profit generated per dirham of occupancy cost and per square foot, adjusted for assortment depth and long-term strategic value.

## Decision framework

Score each option consistently on:

| Dimension | Question |
|---|---|
| Return on capital | Does the location produce attractive profit relative to rent, fit-out, and working capital? |
| Showroom productivity | What sales and gross profit per sq ft are realistically achievable? |
| Brand strength | Does the location reinforce Huxberry’s premium organic/natural positioning? |
| Assortment depth | Can the showroom display enough mattresses, sofas, and other categories to tell the full story? |
| Future optionality | Does it preserve the ability to develop kitchens or other home-furnishing lines? |
| Customer access | Can target customers reach, park at, and spend time in the showroom? |
| Network role | Does it complement Festival Plaza or duplicate it? |
| Evidence quality | Which assumptions are supported by observed customer behavior rather than internal opinion? |

## Provisional decision logic

Do not select a smaller Sheikh Zayed showroom merely to preserve the road name. Select it only if verified economics show that its location advantage produces enough incremental contribution to offset the loss of assortment and the higher cost per sq ft.

Do not select Al Quoz merely because rent is lower. Select it if evidence shows that the district can support destination retail, the customer catchment is attractive, and the larger showroom creates enough additional gross profit and brand strength to justify the move.

Treat Al Wasl and Umm Suqeim as serious alternatives only if they deliver a demonstrably better premium customer catchment or brand adjacency than Al Quoz at a competitive cost.

The strategic objective should be a durable flagship system for the next decade: a showroom that makes Huxberry’s differentiated proposition easy to understand, supports sufficient assortment depth, complements Festival Plaza, and earns an attractive return on capital.

## Open decisions and validation items

- Exact renewal and replacement terms for Sheikh Zayed Road.
- Exact Festival Plaza size, performance, catchment, and role.
- Minimum viable size for mattresses, sofas, and kitchens.
- Whether kitchens are a real strategic line or only an exploratory option.
- Verified location and business evidence for Collectic/Klekktic and other Al Quoz comparables.
- Customer-origin and travel-distance distribution.
- Required sales per sq ft by scenario.
- Fit-out cost and time for each option.
- Candidate future-growth neighborhoods beyond Jumeirah Golf Estates and The Oasis.
- Final flagship role: brand landmark, sales engine, full-range home platform, or a deliberate combination.