The Children's Place, one of the largest clothing chains in North America, is set to take its first steps in the Middle East having signed franchise agreements with two local retailers. The brand, which is listed on the Nasdaq in the United States, has teamed up with Apparel Group to open stores in the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman and will work with Fawaz Alhokair in Saudi Arabia. Both agreements with local retailers are to run The Children's Place stores for the next 10 years. "While the opportunity in apparel as a whole is considerable, the potential rewards are even greater within childrenswear," said Magdalena Kondej, the global head of apparel research at Euromonitor International, a market research company. Ms Kondej said Saudi Arabia remained the biggest untapped market and forecast growth at a rate of 7 per cent each year until 2016 for children's clothing in the kingdom. "At a time when the US in comparison is predicted [to have] 1 per cent average annual value growth to 2016 in both apparel and childrenswear, it is easy to see why The Children's Place has been tempted to try its hand in the region." The Children's Place has more than 1,000 stores across North America and the company designs and sells fashionable kids' clothing at value prices. The first The Children's Place outlets are expected to open in Dubai and Saudi Arabia in September, followed by a roll-out across the region. Children's clothing is big business for local retailers as parents are increasingly spending more on their fashion-conscious offspring. Parents spent an estimated $1 billion (Dh3.67bn) on children's designer clothing and footwear last year in the Emirates, according to Euromonitor. Analysts say The Children's Place will pose a serious threat to Mothercare and Baby Shop, which both work in the mass-market children's arena and have stores across the Middle East. "Given its position as market leader, the retailer with the most to lose from The Children's Place targeting the Middle East is Mothercare," said Ms Kondej, adding Mothercare had an 8 per cent share of the UAE children's market. "Because of the more developed retail environment in the United Arab Emirates, the brand faces a much higher level of competition there, with Baby Shop and Pumpkin Patch both holding a bigger slice of the market." Mothercare, which is operated by MH Alshaya, has 290 stores across the Middle East, while Baby Shop, which is owned by the Landmark Group, operates 161 shops. In total, Apparel Group has 655 stores, employing 5,500 staff, across its brands including Tim Hortons, Aldo, Dune, Nine West and Tommy Hilfiger. Fawaz Alhokair Group, based in Riyadh, operates more than 1,000 outlets across the Middle East with branded stores such as Zara, Gap, Marks & Spencer and Promod. The Children's Place shares have fallen 2.45 per cent so far this year on the Nasdaq in New York. It announced its expansion plans late last month to investors. rjones@thenational.ae

SECAUCUS, N.J., June 25, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Children's Place Retail Stores, Inc. (Nasdaq:PLCE), the largest pure-play children's specialty apparel retailer in North America, today announced that it has signed a ten-year franchise agreement with Fawaz A. AlHokair & Co. SJSC, known as "Fashion Retail", to open stores across Saudi Arabia. The first two stores are scheduled to open during the second quarter of 2012. Jane Elfers, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Children's Place, stated, "We are very excited to begin our international expansion beyond North America with a number of stores opening in Saudi Arabia this year. The Middle East retail landscape is very well developed and has high potential for our brand. We look forward to working with Fawaz A. AlHokair & Co, which has a proven track record of launching and operating international brands in Saudi Arabia." Commenting on the launch, Mr. Simon Marshall, Chief Executive Officer of Fawaz A. AlHokair & Co. SJSC, stated, "We have long admired The Children's Place and are excited by the opportunity both to partner with the brand, and to launch our first stores this summer. We believe The Children's Place will fill a white space within the childrenswear market by providing a new product offering combining fashion, quality and value." About The Children's Place Retail Stores, Inc. The Children's Place is the largest pure-play children's specialty apparel retailer in North America. The Company designs, contracts to manufacture and sells fashionable, high-quality merchandise at value prices, primarily under the proprietary "The Children's Place" brand name. As of April 28, 2012, the Company operated 1,062 stores and an online store at www.childrensplace.com. About Fawaz A. AlHokair & Co. SJSC Fawaz A. AlHokair & Co. SJSC is a leading, publicly-listed retail conglomerate headquartered in Saudi Arabia. The company has retail operations in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and the U.S.A. The company partners with 70+ brands across 1,200+ stores. http://www.fawazalhokairfashion.com/ Forward Looking Statements This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements regarding future circumstances, including statements relating to the Company's positioning, and forecasts regarding store openings. These forward-looking statements are based upon the Company's current expectations and assumptions and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and performance to differ materially. Some of these risks and uncertainties are described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in the "Risk Factors" section of its annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 28, 2012. Included among the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and performance to differ materially are the risk that the Company will be unsuccessful in gauging fashion trends and changing consumer preferences, the risks resulting from the highly competitive nature of the Company's business and its dependence on consumer spending patterns, which may be affected by the continued weakness in the economy or by other factors such as increases in the cost of gasoline and food, the risk that the cost of raw materials or energy prices will increase beyond current expectations or that the Company is unable to offset cost increases through value engineering or price increases, and the uncertainty of weather patterns. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they were made. The Company undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. The inclusion of any statement in this release does not constitute an admission by the Company or any other person that the events or circumstances described in such statement are material. CONTACT: The Children's Place: Jane Singer, Vice President, Investor Relations (201) 453-6955 Fawaz A. AlHokair & Co: Brendan Dorrian, Personal Envoy to the Chairman and Head of Business Development +447778897111 Children's Place Retail Stores, Inc.