How Metro grew from single Colon store to giant retailer

METRO/NOV 24,2015: Frank Gaisano, chairman Metro Retail Stores, Inc. (CDN PHOTO/TONEE DESPOJO)

Among the Gaisanos, the Metro Group is the only one that ventured to Metro Manila and Luzon to take on the retail giants in their own turf.

Metro is also, so far, the only Gaisano and Chinese-Filipino company from Cebu that is now publicly traded, bravely entering the capital market at a time when volatility and bearish sentiments prevail.

How did Metro manage to rise above its contemporaries in Cebu?

Frank S. Gaisano, chairman and chief executive officer of Metro Retail Stores Group, Inc., cited two major decisions that the family made to bring Metro to where it is now.

First, the family brought in professionals to take over key positions held by family members and make aesthetic improvements to the Metro stores.

Then, they expanded aggressively, opening 28 stores in just five years.

“We grew from 18 to 46 in just five years. We shifted from family to professionals. That process made us grow faster,” Gaisano said in a press conference following the bell ringing ceremony at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) to mark the company’s market debut on November 24.

Metro is now the largest retailer in Cebu across all its three formats – department store, supermarket and hypermarket (Super Metro). It has also ventured into neighborhood supermarkets under the brand Metro Fresh N Easy,  following its acquisition of Tita Gwapa stores in 2011.

According to market intelligence firm Euromonitor, Metro is the largest department store and hypermarket operator and the second largest supermarket operator in the Visayas.

Based on the company website, Metro now has over 9,000 employees. Its 46 stores across its  three retail formats serve over 250,000 shoppers a day.

Despite the competition among the Gaisanos, Metro’s Frank Gaisano said he and his siblings Margaret, Jack and Edward remain friendly with their cousins.

“We attended a birthday party a few weeks ago. We have a very good relationship. Despite the competition, we are still friendly,” he said.

Whether his cousins seek advice from their family, he wouldn’t say.

“I don’t volunteer (any advice). But I value their friendship. They’re very supportive as relatives,” he said.

Asked if Metro plans to merge with or acquire any other Gaisano group, he said their cousins are all stable and doing well. But he didn’t rule out a merger, with a more equitable sharing between the parties.

Among the professionals brought in to manage the company is Arthur Emmanuel, president and chief operating officer.

Prior to joining Metro and parent company Vicsal Development Corp., Emmanuel held various key positions at American retail giant Walmart.

He said key retail principles that he learned while at Walmart are already in the core values of Metro, namely: customer is the boss; price leadership; assortment as second biggest asset next to the people; and employees make the difference because they’re the ones closest to the customers.

“Their founding parents Victor and Sally understood that to grow, they have to be price leaders. For 33 years, they have practised these (key learnings) and continues to improve on these,” Emmanuel said in the same press conference.

Victor, second youngest son of the late matriarch Doña Modesta Gaisano, and his wife Sally, from whose names Vicsal was coined, started the Metro chain with a store called Gaisano Metro in Colon in 1982.

The store was rebranded to Metro Gaisano, before the iconic name Gaisano was eventually dropped to differentiate Metro from other Gaisano stores in the Visayas and Mindanao.

To date, Metro has a total footprint of about 400,000 square meters and aims to double this in five years by targeting to open 50 to 70 more stores, Emmanuel said. The company will fund this expansion from its P3.6 billion initial public offering (IPO) proceeds.

Metro shares closed flat at P4.01 yesterday, 0.25 percent from the first trading day close of P4 (not P4.13 as reported earlier).