The company's growth strategy is based on attracting the middle class with new shops in malls and suburban supermarkets.

ECONOMIST: Consumer finance: Pay dirt | The

Whenever I take a taxi home from the city center to Etiler, I pass along the otobahn through an Alphaville landscape of Trump Towers, kiddy-neon malls and Carrefour Express supermarkets.

WSJ: Dreaming in Ottoman: Istanbul at a Crossroads

As Andrew Hacker points out in the New York Review of Books, teenagers are a significant source of low-paid labour in supermarkets, shopping malls and fast-food franchises.

ECONOMIST: The economy

The mall, which opened in May and already attracts 1 million shoppers on weekends, is the crowning achievement of Sy's 60-year career in retailing that began with one small shoe store in Manila and now includes 26 other malls in the Philippines, four more in China, one in Guam and a chain of department stores and supermarkets.

FORBES: Lean on Me