About two years ago my husband, Steve Lee, got stuck in Salalah, unable to travel to his diving destination for his two week break due to adverse weather conditions. He fell into conversation with Yusef Al Mahrooqi, an Omani with ambition and an abundance of local knowledge.
Steve had spent some time in Salalah before and had previously mentioned that he thought we should both visit this comparatively unspoiled oasis together in the future. So within two weeks of his arrival back home we were both on an airplane back out to Salalah with the possibility of making life-changing decisions.
Steve has always aspired to living somewhere where he can wear flip flops and shorts and Salalah certainly fulfilled this qualification. We had always intended to sell up in UK, but were not expecting to do this for another two years or so. Our youngest twin boys had not yet left school and although they were destined to work in our Civil Engineering Company in UK this was still a way off.
During the course of the following year I visited Salalah on a number of occasions as our future business plans took shape. I spent a long time rambling around the souqs and shops and soon realised that there was a gap in the market for a high quality fashion boutique. This is when the first idea for the Queen of Sheba boutique was born.