SSI Group brings more international brands to Cebu

SPECIALTY retailer SSI Group, Inc. recently opened a Pull & Bear store in Cebu and intends to bring in more international brands.

Anthony T. Huang, SSI Group president, said they will also open a Bershka store on December 12 in Cebu and a Joe Fresh outlet in Manila next year.

Huang said they will continue to be on the lookout for new brands, but will also focus on making sure that existing stores are run efficiently.

“We’ve expanded quite nicely over the past three years and at this stage, we’re making sure that the new brands and the new stores that we’ve opened are working the way they’re supposed to and so far, so good,” he said during the opening of a bigger Marks & Spencer store at the Ayala Center Cebu yesterday.

The Tantoco-led company currently carries 115 international brands, including 8 to 11 new brands brought in this year, and over 700 stores across the country.

“As for new stores, you know there’s been a major development of new shopping malls over the past three years. In the coming few years, there’s less of those malls so naturally, our opening will slow down as well,” he said.

The new Marks & Spencer store, which takes up about half of the old Rustans Department Store, has an area of about 800 square meters that is almost double the size of the old store.

“Marks & Spencer has been here for more than 10 years. We needed a store that would allow us to really feature the wider offering of merchandise it now has compared to when it started,” Huang said.

Huang said the company remains bullish about Cebu.

“I think that Cebu is really a fast growing market. We remain very optimistic and we’ve been very nicely received by Cebuano customers, and that continues to be the case,” Huang said.

The company reported a lower net profit in the third quarter as losses from its joint ventures Family Mart and Wellworth dragged down earnings.

However, Huang said these were “planned developmental losses” that will be recovered.

“(Because) they’re new and naturally you can’t make money in your first few years,” he said.

After only about two years, Family Mart is expected to have 121 stores by the end of this year, five of which are already open in Cebu. Wellworth is present in only two locations in Metro Manila.