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 The
year was 1935; aged 22, Youssef Gergi Bou Khalil opened a small
grocery store in the Baabda souk, in a suburb of Beirut. His
business grew and the shop expanded with young Youssef taking over
the adjoining shops. In just a few years, the grocery became the
reference in and around the Baabda souk.
When the Lebanese war started in 1975, and
after the souks of the capital broke up, Youssef and his eldest
son Georges began to feel a bit cramped in the small
125-square-meters business.
In 1980 the first Bou Khalil Supermarket
opened in downtown Baabda, right next to where the first grocery
store had been.
In 1986 the second Bou Khalil Supermarket
opened in Feytroun, Kesrouan, on the road to Faraya.
At the end of the 1980s, all the members of
the Bou Khalil family were involved in the running and management
of what was to become one of the most important retail chains in
Lebanon.
In 1994, a new commercial concept is
inaugurated in Baabda on the international Beirut-Damascus road.
The first hypermarket in Lebanon is born with a mall (le
drugstore) comprising a dozen shops in the Faubourg Saint Jean.
Early March 1999, the group steps up its
operations with the central buying office becoming operational.
At the end of March 1999, a Hypermarket and
a mall are opened in Mkalles, east of the capital in the direction
of Metn.
In October 1999, the first regional mall is
opened in the north of Lebanon, in Tripoli. Over 24 000 m2, one
can find a hypermarket, over 50 shops on three levels and
underground parking lots.
April 2000, a new supermarket is opened in
the heart of Beyrouth at Koraytem with a few service shops.
June 2001, a new mall is opened in Hamra
Plaza, in the heart of Lebanon, at Zahle, in the Bekaa valley, on
the road to Baalbeck.
March 2004, a hypermarket is taken over in
Jbeil (Byblos), 40 km north of Beirut (over two levels with open
air and underground parking lots).
The growth of Bou Khalil matches
prudently the whimsical rhythm of the Lebanese mass marketing
field.
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