New giant Thai mall to open in capital

THE Overseas Cambodian Investment Company (OCIC) and Thai hyper-retailer BIG C are teaming up to open a new mall in the satellite city of Chroy Changvar. They hope to attract domestic and international visitors to the facility, which will offer a wide range of food, clothing, and modern technology, much of it imported from Thailand.

The collaboration was announced during an April 22 signing ceremony of a Memorandum

of Understanding (MoU), with both sides reaffirming their commitment to joint value creation and community initiatives.

The BIG C hypermarket will be built on an area of nearly three hectares near the Sovanmacha roundabout.

According to an OCIC press release, Lim Lychin, Director of OCIC and Mega Asset Management, said the giant supermarket BIG C, one of Thailand’s biggest retailers, would offer a range of high-quality imported goods and create many job opportunities.

“OCIC is the largest investor in Cambodia. We invest in real estate, education, health, the Techo International Airport, construction, media and entertainment. The largest BIG C shopping mall in Cambodia will create a new central business area in Phnom Penh,” she said.

Gary Hardy, president of BIG C in Thailand, said that in 2019, the company established one of the first large-scale supermarkets in Poipet and expanded the construction of 20 more small-scale supermarkets, named BIG C Mini, in Phnom Penh and Kampot.

“The BIG C construction project with OCIC is another major expansion step for the next five years to develop supermarkets of all sizes across Cambodia and Southeast Asia,” the press release quoted him as saying.

BIG C is part of the ‘Berli Jucker Public’ company, owners of some of Thailand’s most popular malls.

The mall currently operates 1,810 retail outlets in Thailand, including 154 BIG C hypermarkets.