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CEBU CITY, Philippines -- The SM Supermarket will be investing millions of pesos in more Savemore supermarket branches in Cebu.

SM Supermarket president Herbert Sy, first executive vice president of SM Investments Corp. and head of food retail division of the SM group, said they have been planning to open more Savemore branches but he would not say where yet.

Sy was in Cebu on Friday for the inauguration of the third Savemore supermarket branch here.

He said they usually invested about P100 million for a Savemore Supermarket branch, adding that a decision on the location of future branches would be made based on market requirement. "We would like to bring it closer to the market," he added.

Sy maintained that the decision to open another Savemore branch was based on the reception they have been getting from the community. "The feeling that we have, we are welcomed by Cebu community," Sy said.

He also said that their supermarket operations helped the local economy as they created business for local suppliers, especially in the fresh food sections.

However, Sy explained that they have also been getting their vegetable requirements from other areas since the produce in Cebu could not meet the demand in the supermarkets.

He also disclosed that a Cebu-based company supplied the bottled water products sold under the SM brand.

Sy explained that there would be no competition among the company's various supermarkets in Cebu although these were located near each other.

The newly opened Savemore supermarket branch is located in Parkmall in Mandaue City, which is near a Makro branch, also in Mandaue City, and the SM supermarket in North Reclamation Area, Cebu City.

He said the SM Supervalue Inc. has been managing supermarket operations, including those in SM malls and Pilipinas Makro branches.

Sy explained that the Savemore, Makro and the supermarkets in the mall served different market segments so they did not expect any negative impact on sales of outlets located near each other.

The new Savemore Supermarket branch was so far the biggest, with its 4,500-square meter selling area, Sy said.

• Merrill Lynch sees peso at 43 by yearend, 44 at end-2009
• BSP 'unofficial' forex stock drops to $9B
• Low blow

• China wants new global monetary system
• Solons caution gov’t on privatization