Mydin eyes prospects along HSR route in three states
Retail chain to open hypermarkets in Batu Pahat, Muar and Ayer Keroh
JOHOR BARU: With the High Speed Rail (HSR) project passing through Johor, Melaka and Negri Sembilan, Mydin Mohamed Holdings Bhd is considering opening outlets along that route as the retail chain expects good prospects.
Managing director Datuk Wira Ameer Ali Mydin said that the multi-billion ringgit project would create a lot of economic spillovers and benefits to the local economy in the three states.
“We are still upbeat on the retail segment in the country although online shopping is getting popular among our consumers,” Ameer said at the opening of Mydin Mutiara Rini hypermarket at Taman Mutiara Rini, Skudai near here.
The RM250mil investment is the company’s 27th hypermarket.
He reckoned the company would open hypermarkets in secondary towns in Johor, namely Batu Pahat and Muar where the stations the HSR will be located as well as in Ayer Keroh, Melaka.
“It is part of our long-term business strategy to have outlets (in different states) to cement our presence in the country to better reach out to our customers,” Ameer said
The hypermarket will take up about a third of the mall’s 768,482 square feet (sq ft) space. With a hypermarket space of 249,305 sq ft, this will be Mydin’s biggest outlet in Johor. It has six outlets in Johor including this latest Skudai opening.
He said Johor’s economic growth, especially in the Iskandar Malaysia economic region, offered good prospects for the company to have more outlets.
He said there were predictions that cinema-going would go out of fashion when movies became available on CDs but today, people still enjoy a trip to the movies.
On that note, the company would continue with its on-going business plan to open at least two or three new outlets in the country annually.
He said for 2018, the company had already invested about RM200mil for its Mydin Petra Jaya hypermarket in Kuching, Sarawak which opened last month and the Mutiara Rini branch and another RM150mil for its hypermarket in Jengka, Pahang which is scheduled to open this October.
“We will open two new outlets in Tunjung, Kelantan and Sandakan, Sabah next year. We have (also) identified seven new sites for future opening,” he said.