Metro retail chain all set to expand store network

The retail chain of the Gaisano clan’s Vicsal Development Corp. plans to more than double its store network to 100 in three years as it mulls over options for going public, a company official said last week.

The Cebu-based company, which operates department stores and supermarkets under the Metro brand, has 42 stores today, Metro Retail Group president Eduardo Ponce said.

Growing this to 100 outlets by 2017 will entail new formats and access to new locations throughout the country, particularly urban areas in Luzon and Mindanao, which the company believes is still underserved.

Ponce declined to comment specifically about the initial public offering, saying that the company was open to it.

“We are going aggressive right now,” he said.

But according to other sources in the company, everything is still up in the air and that timing is a key factor.

The expansion will mean increased competition with the country’s biggest retail players, led by Henry Sy’s SM Group, followed by the Gokongwei clan’s Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. and the Co family’s Puregold Price Club Inc.

“There are still huge opportunities for the type of formats that we have—the big formats where we have department stores, together with hypermarkets,” Ponce said. “It’s about doing things better and being more innovative [than the competition].”