Mydin to open 25 new stores in next three years

JOHOR BARU: Retail and wholesale giant Mydin expects to open a total of 25 new hypermarkets in the next three years nationwide.

Mydin Mohamed Holdings managing director Datuk Wira Ameer Ali Mydin said that each mall would cost between RM150mil to RM300mil.

“We will continue with our plans to expand despite the present the economic climate,” he said during the launch of the new RM133mil Mydin Pelangi Indah hypermarket here yesterday.

He added that next month they planned to open their biggest Mydin outlet in Penang worth 300mil.

“Next year we are planning to open at least seven hypermarkets in Sarawak, Malacca, Johor, Kedah, Negri Sembilan and Pahang,” Ameer said, adding that the Pelangi Indah outlet was Mydin’s fifth store in Johor.

The outlet in Pelangi comprised an area of 433,088 sq ft.

He added that they planned to open another outlet in Mutiara Rini here next year.

Asked whether the depreciation of the ringgit has effected their business, he said that at the end of the day, the consumers were the ones affected as the prices of goods have gone up at least 20%.

“We are not the only one. All hypermarkets are affected due to the depreciation of the ringgit and we expect the price to increase further in the next quarter,” he said, adding that consumer spending has also been affected in recent months.

He said that Mydin was still optimistic about the situation and was going ahead with its expansion plans.

Asked how it was going to cope with intense competition from other hypermarkets, he said Mydin had its own strengths especially with the company strongly halal centric when it came to the products that they sold.