Panda Supermarkets is a subsidiary of Safola Foods Group. They have a large network of supermarkets in the big cities of the kingdom, and they are expanding quickly. Last year, they opened the first HyperPanda to face the foreign hypermarkets that came to town like Carrefour and Giant. Recently, it seems that they are working on a campaign to rebrand their stores, which used to carry multiple names in the past. Their stores used to have different name in different places, including Panda, Al-Azizia Panda, and Al-Azizia Market. Now, they are renaming all the stores Panda, and the largest ones will carry the prefix Hyper.

I think this is a smart move. It was confusing in the past when you ask the cab driver to take you to Panda on Takhasosi St., and the driver asks: “What Panda?” “The large place at the intersection with Makkah Rd.,” you answer. “You mean Al-Azizia?” he asks, and you say yes. Next time, you tell the driver to take you to Al-Azizia, and he asks “What Azizia?” A stupid conversation that has repeated several times during my three years in Riyadh.