Adidas
By Ozzaz Alhussein
In the corner of Airport Street a new light shines ADIDAS. Adidas a new store that recently opened it's first branch in Khartoum has been the focus of the people specially brand lovers and those who enjoy wearing sports wear. It's been a great privilege to those who want sports wear and had to travel abroad to purchase the brand.
Wanting to know more about the store Adidas I had the chance to speak with sales manager Mr.Karim Mokhtar and two workers Khalid, and Mohammed and one customer Aisha Omer. Mr karim appeared to be very friendly, and approached me with a smile, I felt welcomed by his attitude. I started off by asking him "how is the business going", laughing he replied "it's going very good". Then I asked "tell me more about the store", "well, it’s a franchise from Adidas in Egypt brought to Sudan", the store in Egypt he mentioned is known as REE Sport and in Sudan REE Train. He continued by saying "there are many types of items in the store and how foreigners as well as many locals pay the store a visit. I then asked "what changes will you make to the store in order to stay in competition", there was a giggle and then he said "no comment", and apologized but made it clear to me that some things he couldn’t share with the public. I then asked Mr. Karim what he saw in the future in his business and he said ,in the future he has high expectations but still nothing was for certain as the store was only opened for 3 months and a whole season must pass to know the result of the profit. "Why open Adidas in Sudan?", "because the owner who is originally Sudanese had an idea of the market in the country and a good background of the people needed in order give a little push to the diversity in shops. My final question to Karim was "how do the customers respond to the store", he told me " they like the whole idea of a sports store and the new change its brought to the country, and Im hoping by opening Adidas the population will have an understanding that sports wear can be worn for sports as well as casual outings.
The staff members, Khalid, who was fresh out of grad school and this was his first job; he was there as an accountant. and Mohammed. I asked Khalid if he found the store challenging, he replied by saying "yes, very!". I then asked how he found the market in Sudan he said "good". I asked Mohammed where he used to work before and he said in Hardees in Egypt. Which is a complete different job from what he is now doing. He also agreed with Khalid on his comments and added by saying the market should bring more stores and shopping centers in Sudan as it has the finance.
Then my last interviewer was a customer called Aisha and her four year old daughter. I asked Aisha " what did they buy",Aisha bought shorts and a pair of socks, and her daughter Yasmine bought sneakers and said "I like them because their pink!", then I asked Aisha if she found the store affordable, she said "you would only expect to find the prices a little high as it’s a well known brand and the only branch so far, but they should put down the prices every now and then and have a sale!".