The newest Metro store, a four-story, 14,600-square-meter outlet, brings MRSGI’s network to 49. It is part of the assets that MRSGI acquired from SIAL Specialty Retailers, Inc. (CONTRIBUTED)
Following its strong 69-percent growth in net income for the first quarter of 2016, leading homegrown retailer Metro Retail Stores Group, Inc. (MRSGI) recently opened its 49th store at the in Quezon City.
“We continue to harness opportunities presented by highly populated, fast-growing areas like Quezon City as we build on our growth and double our footprint in the next five years,” said MRSGI president and chief operating officer Arthur Emmanuel.
The four-story, 14,600-square-meter department store is part of the department store assets that MRSGI previously acquired from SIAL Specialty Retailers, Inc., a joint venture between Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI) and the Tantoco-led Store Specialists, Inc. (SSI).
Last April, MRSGI also opened a two-story department store in UP Town Center, bringing its department store network to 12.
MRSGI’s net income after tax grew 69.2 percent to P52.8 million in the first quarter of 2016, driven by a 7.4-percent growth in same stores sales and a 9.7-percent growth in all-stores net sales.
MRSGI’s 49-store network also includes 24 supermarkets and 13 hypermarkets.
“This wouldn’t have been possible without the continued support of our trusted partner Ayala Land, with whom we share the same commitment for excellent customer service,” said Emmanuel, who added that the Metro Department Store is MRSGI’s eighth store with ALI.
MRSGI recently inked an agreement with ALI for the establishment of its stores in four new Ayala commercial developments in Capitol Central in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental; Mandurriao, Iloilo City; Central Bloc in Cebu City; and Ayala Malls Feliz in Pasig City.
Metro stores are present in key cities in Central, Western and Eastern Visayas, as well as in Central Luzon, Metro Manila, and South Luzon.
According to Euromonitor, Metro is the Visayas’ largest department store and hypermarket operator, and second-largest supermarket operator in 2014 in terms of retail sales value.
Metro was also Cebu’s largest retailer across all its three store formats in terms of retail value in the same year.