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Landmark Group
Landmark Group runs a huge chain of mall stores across the Middle East and India, selling everything from clothes and shoes to home goods and groceries.
Landmark Group is one of the biggest retail empires in the Middle East, and most people in the region have walked through one of its stores without even realizing it. It runs a sprawling collection of brands, led by Centrepoint, a large multi-category store that sells clothing, footwear, home goods, and baby products for the whole family. Around that sit specialized chains like Babyshop for children's gear, Lifestyle for fashion and home decor, Splash for fast fashion, and Max Fashion for value-priced clothing. If you've ever bought a school uniform, a toddler's stroller, or a sofa in Dubai or Riyadh, there's a decent chance Landmark sold it to you.
The company makes money the way most retailers do: it buys products from manufacturers and wholesalers and sells them through its stores and online channels at a markup. What keeps customers coming back is convenience and scale. Landmark's brands are clustered in prime mall locations across dozens of countries, so a family can do a week's worth of shopping in one trip. Its value chains, especially Max, target budget-conscious shoppers with low prices and wide selection, which helps it compete against global giants like Zara and H&M in fashion, and against regional rivals such as Majid Al Futtaim in the broader mall and grocery space. Landmark is privately held, which makes it unusual for a company of its size. It was founded in Bahrain in the early 1970s by Micky Jagtiani, an Indian-born entrepreneur who started with a small baby products shop and expanded aggressively over the decades. The group now operates well over a couple of thousand stores across the Gulf, wider Middle East, India, and beyond, spanning retail, hospitality, food, and healthcare. That private structure means less public disclosure than a listed retailer, and it gives the family tight control over strategy. Its scale has real advantages. Building a giant private retail group means Landmark can negotiate hard with suppliers, spread logistics and warehouse costs across thousands of stores, and open new locations quickly when a mall developer wants a reliable anchor tenant. But the business is heavily tied to consumer spending in regions that rise and fall with oil prices, tourism, and government policy. The Gulf's rapid population growth and shopping culture have been tailwinds; weak oil cycles and competition from e-commerce have been headwinds. The company has poured money into online shopping and loyalty programs to keep up with changing habits, and its push into India with Max has become a significant growth engine.
Landmark Group is best understood as a mall ecosystem in a single company. It doesn't just own stores; it owns the brands that fill them, the logistics that stock them, and increasingly the digital tools that connect to customers' phones. For a private, family-run conglomerate, that breadth is the whole strategy: be the dependable, value-minded retailer that shows up in every major mall in the region, and make money on the everyday things people need, from baby bottles to birthday outfits.
Saved answer · last researched 10 Nov 2026