Philippines fashion retailer Golden ABC says it plans to open 125 new stores in the Philippines and across Asia in 2016.
According to CEO Bernie Liu, 100 stores will open in the company’s home market and a further 25 will open in other Asian countries, including Indonesia.
Liu is undeterred by the rapidly rising ranks of foreign fast fashion clothing brands entering and expanding in the Philippines.
“We have been competing with these international brands for years now in other parts of Asia. Our goal is to bring a Filipino brand into the international arena,” Liu said during the opening of three new stores at the SM Seaside City mall in Cebu.
Golden ABC’s flagship brand – and the one most likely to be opened in Asian markets – is Penshoppe. The new Penshoppe store at SM Seaside City is the brand’s largest shop yet, with a footprint of 850 sqm, more than twice the size of a normal store.
Golden ABC also operates the ForMe and Oxygen brands, both of which have also opened stores in SM Seaside City. The retailer has 700 stores across Asia and the Middle East. Its largest Asian markets outside the Philippines are Indonesia and Cambodia – and in Vietnam where the company recently opened a store inside the new VivoCity mall in District 7.
“We are very encouraged by the response in Vietnam,” Liu said in an interview.
Penshoppe has 26 stores in Indonesia, with three more under construction.
Golden ABC also owns the Memo, Regatta and Tyler retail brands, and the direct-selling business Red Logo.