With the Asean Economic Community taking shape in 2015, local retail chain Metro Gaisano has expanded robustly to position itself ahead and remain competitive in the market.
The group yesterday opened its eighth branch this year rounding off the total to 29 stores in Visayas and Luzon.
It’s important to be positioned in strategic areas in the Visayas and Luzon to stay competitive especially with the economic integration of ten ASEAN member countries, said Dr. Edward Gaisano, a director of the Vicsal Development Corp.
By 2015, ASEAN member countries including Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines will become a single market which would allow the free flow of goods and labor into member countries.
Businessmen in Cebu see the need to prepare for the integration so they are not left out by the inflow of imported goods from the other nine countries.
While more information on the implications of this shift is needed, Gaisano said that they took the initiative of firmly establishing the company in the market first resulting in a more competitive position.
more branches
This year Metro Gaisano opened branches in Newport in Bogo city , Lapu-Lapu city, North Port, Imus, Anonas, Tacloban city and in Basak, San Nicolas of Cebu City.
Next year, ten new branches will open, including a second mall downtown along Colon Street, Cebu City with a targeted opening on February next year.
The ten new branches will include five supermarkets and five hypermarkets.
The Metro Gaisano chain has three store formats. This includes the latest addition of Fresh and Easy, a neighborhood store located near residential communities.
“We target to open eight to ten stores every year until 2015 featuring more modern store designs that adopt to current market trends and offering more options for our shoppers,” said Gaisano./Reporter Aileen Garcia-Yap