Familiar name has shoppers doing double-take in Dubai

It's the world’s third largest retailer, has revenues of over $95 billion last year...and it hasn’t just opened a new store in Karama.

Yes, despite the sharing a name with the British-based retail behemoth, the Tesco supermarket trading in the Dubai neighbourhood isn’t the first footstep in the UAE for the famous firm.

There were no managers around when 7DAYS popped into the store yesterday afternoon, but we did manage to leave with a carrier bag bearing the name of Karama’s answer to the UK firm whose motto is “every little helps”.

Reports have suggested that Britain’s Tesco is already making noises to the effect that it has a policy of protecting its brand when faced with any possible breach of its intellectual property rights.

The sighting of the familiar name in Dubai comes just weeks after a sharp-eyed shoppers spied a store bearing the name of British clothing brand Primark that opened up in the emirate - but had no ties with the original brand.

The British Primark said it was examining its legal options after it was informed of its UAE namesake.

That furore itself came hot on the heels of the expose of a string of fake Apple stores last year in China, which even kitted their staff out in fake Apple uniforms.