A year after it was razed by fire, the Metro Ayala supermarket reopens at its original location in time for the New Year 2019 celebration. /Photo from the Ayala Center Cebu Facebook page
CEBU CITY, Philippines – The Metro Retail Stores Group Inc. (MRSGI) reopened its Metro Ayala Supermarket at its original location nearly a year after a massive fire hit the 8-level structure that housed both the department store and the supermarket.
In April last year, Metro Ayala opened its supermarket at a 900-square meter temporary area at Ayala Center Cebu previously occupied by Rustan’s Department Store.
Ayala Center Cebu announced the reopening of Metro Supermarket at its original location through a December 31, 2018 post on its Facebook page. The supermarket now sports a different layout with wider aisle and brighter lights.
If the company’s plans will be realized, the rebuilding of the ground floor will be completed within the first quarter of this year while the remaining levels will be done by the second quarter of 2019.
Last year, MRSGI had come up with a rebuilding program for Metro Ayala Cebu.
In a statement issued three days after the Bureau of Fire Protection declared an official “fire out,” the MRSGI disclosed that it had initiated process of recovery and rebuilding of the Metro Ayala structure.
The Bureau of Fire in Central Visayas declared the fire out at 4:18 p.m. on January 8, 2018, nearly three days after the fire started at the storage room of Metro Ayala’s toy department located at the third floor.
The company disclosed the details of the Metro Ayala Cebu rebuild program in its 2018 1st quarter report.
The first phase of the program involved the rebuilding of basements 1 and 2 scheduled for completion in the last quarter of 2018.
Phase 2 of the Metro Ayala Cebu rebuild program calls for the rehabilitation of the ground floor of the structure by the first quarter of 2019.
Meanwhile, phase 3 calls for the rebuilding of the remaining levels (from the second to the sixth floor), to be finished in the second quarter of 2019.
Earlier, the company reported that it’s net sales revenue had dropped by 12 percent, from P7.92 billion in the first quarter of 2017 to P6.97 billion in the same period in 2018.
In addition, the company’s net income declined by 5.9 percent, from P95.93 million in the first quarter of 2017 to P90.19 million in the same period in 2018.
Metro Retail Stores attributed the decline to the temporary closure of the supermarket and department store damaged by the fire.
Metro Ayala Cebu was the anchor store for Ayala Center Cebu, which opened in November 1994. /elb