Prince Alwaleed negotiated with the Chairman of SAKS Inc to persuade him to allow the Prince to open the first SAKS retail store outside the United States. The first anchor store was successfully launched in Riyadh in 2001 in the Al Mamlaka shopping mall in Kingdom Centre.

The Riyadh SAKS store occupies two levels of the Al Mamlaka store. The first floor sells handbags, jewellery, men's accessories and fragrances and cosmetics and the second level is reserved for women only. Key brands include Dior, Cartier, Prada, Roberto Cavali and Valentino. The store receives revenues both from its sale of merchandise and commissions from third party sellers operating concessions within the store, which are subject to guaranteed minimum payments.

SAKS Saudi Arabia is owned by Fashion Village Trading Company, which is the exclusive licensee of SAKS Fifth Avenue in Saudi Arabia. KHC holds a 54.2 percent interest in Fashion Village Trading Company, representing an initial investment of SR 55.4 million.

SAKS Saudi Arabia seeks sustained growth, and believes that it will benefit from continued economic growth in the Middle East. KHC believes that Riyadh's affluent population is developing an increasingly positive attitude towards consumerism and that there is a growing awareness of global brands. The Company plans to open a second SAKS store in Jeddah in 2008, adding another 45,000 square feet of retail space, and it is considering opening additional stores in the future, potentially in Beirut and Cairo.