Real estate and retail tycoon Manuel B. Villar Jr. said he is planning to open more branches of the Villar Group’s stable of brands next year while preparing for the initial public offering (IPO) of the Coffee Project chain.
In a briefing after the Villar Group’s Retail Innovation Shopping Expo, Villar said the retail sector will ride on the country’s economic recovery. The local economy is expected to get a boost from higher spending in 2022 as it is an election year.
“I am very glad that [the Covid-19 pandemic] is about to end,” Villar said.
He said listed retail firm AllHome Corp. and newly-listed AllDay Marts Inc. are targeting to open 10 branches each next year as part of the Villar Group’s ongoing expansion program.
Foot traffic in their other retail businesses held under AllValue Holdings Corp. has already recovered to pre-pandemic levels starting the fourth quarter, he said.
Villar said even their malls under Vista Land and Lifescapes Inc. and Starmalls Inc. have both seen foot traffic recovering to over 100 percent of pre-pandemic levels and they no longer need to extend concessions to the tenants since their businesses have also recovered.
Maeanwhile, he said the IPO of Coffee Project will be “small” and that he will wait for the coffee shop chain to reach 100 branches before going public.
Villar said he is also thinking of expanding Coffee Project’s branches by converting some of their brands.
“We have eight types of these coffee shops that are world-class and even better than those in Europe,” Villar said.
The company has hatched several brands during the pandemic as it adjusted its business strategy due to the sudden change in consumer behavior. These are Ruined Project, Napa, San Marco, Dear Joe, Roma, SOMO Market, Global Market, Green Centralle, Pet Buddies, KAL, No Name, AllGreen, Get All, AllAmerican, Shieldtech, Yummy Bakes, AllBikes, Pet Café, Crossings Café, Sombrero, AllDigital, Bread Basket and Boston Green.
Villar said they are also converting their AllDay convenience stores, which are not part of the AllDay supermarket chain, into AllGreen stores which offers not just groceries but also health and beauty and pharmaceutical products. He said these are patterned after Walgreens in the United States.