Dairy Farm plans to open more Rose Pharmacy stores

Dairy Farm Group plans to set up more Rose Pharmacy stores if suitable sites are available. (CDN FILE)

Retail concepts from other health and beauty brands eyed

Hong Kong-based retailer Dairy Farm Group, which owns 49 percent of Rose Pharmacy, is eyeing to expand the drugstore chain and introduce retail concepts suitable for the Philippine market.

There are 241 Rose Pharmacy stores nationwide as of end-December last year.

“We will open more stores if suitable sites are available,” Dairy Farm’s group communications department said in an e-mail to Cebu Daily News.

Dairy Farm also said that while it aims to build on the Rose Pharmacy brand, it may later introduce a few concepts from its existing health and beauty stores that are deemed suitable for the local market.

Aside from Rose Pharmacy, health and beauty stores under Dairy Farm are Mannings, Guardian and GNC (General Nutrition Center) Live Well.

Mannings, a preferred brand in Hong Kong, also has operations in Macau and China while Guardian, which started in Malaysia, also has stores in Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Brunei and Cambodia.

GNC Live Well offers vitamins and health supplements mainly in Hong Kong and Macau.

Dairy Farm, a unit of Jardine Matheson Ltd., acquired 49 percent of Rose Pharmacy in November last year.

The Lim family retains a 51-percent stake in the company. Rose Pharmacy was established in 1952 by licensed pharmacist Rosario Lim.

Dairy Farm also owns 66 percent of Rustan’s Supercenters, Inc., which operates the Rustan’s Supermarket, Shopwise and Wellcome.

As of end-2014, Dairy Farm International Holdings Ltd. has over 6,100 stores and over 100,000 employees. It recorded total sales of more than $13 billion last year.

Dairy Farm is also behind the brands Jason’s MarketPlace, Cold Storage and Giant supermarkets, among others.