Spinneys

Spinneys Overview

Spinneys was founded in 1924 by a British soldier, Arthur Rawdon Spinney (CBE), who set up operations in Alexandria, Egypt.

The company initially formed and organised the provision department of Palestine Railways but grew into a grocery importer selling British goods across Mandate Palestine.

Spinney set up his headquarters in Haifa and opened a store in Jaffa Street, Jerusalem.

The first Spinneys branches were located in the major regional cities frequented by British subjects via the railway line – Alexandria, Cairo, Haifa, Acre and Damascus.

In the 1930s a Baghdad branch was opened, which was relocated to Deira, Dubai, in 1961.

The store became known locally as ‘The Frozen Chicken’ because it was the first retailer in the area to sell frozen meat from a chiller van. The company also opened its first Lebanon store in Beirut in 1948. 

Arthur Spinney retired from active participation in the company in the 1960s and died in the UK in 1973.

Coming under Emirati ownership in 1999, the company expanded aggressively throughout the region, and now operates 79 stores across the UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia under the names Spinneys, Waitrose and Al Fair. Spinneys Egypt, a separate legal entity, operates 30 stores in the country.

Spinneys has around 20 stores in Lebanon and a presence in Qatar and Pakistan.

In May 2024 Spinneys listed on the Dubai Financial Market, selling 900 million shares, representing 25 per cent of the total issued share capital of the company.

The IPO was 64 times oversubscribed and raised AED 1.38 billion ($375 million).