MANILA – Billionaire Edgar “Injap” Sia II opened the first branch of his grocery store foray, MerryMart, expanding his retail holdings, his holding firm said Tuesday.
MerryMart is located in Sia’s own DoubleDragon Plaza. It will the first of the planned 1,200 branches, Injap Investments Inc said in a statement.
DoubleDragon develops, among others, the CityMall chain of community shopping centers and the Hotel101 chain.
“Our family initially had no plans to expand the grocery business, but our recent experiences made us realize the need for us to be in the modern grocery retail business,” said Sia, who chairs MerryMart.
“Moreover there are undeniable synergies between the real estate and retail businesses, and in our case, gladly the grocery retail have always been in our blood,” he said.
Sia said his grandfather started a grocery store in the 1950s while his parents started their own grocery business in 1989.
The MerryMart brand can grow through company-owned stores and franchising, according to Injap Investments. (ABS-CBN News)
