Thai food conglomerate Central Food Retail plans to invest US$30 million opening 12 new Tops supermarkets in 2015.

“With the clear economic direction of this government, we’re optimistic about the supermarket outlook next year,” Phattaraporn Phenpraphat, VP of marketing and public relations told the Bangkok Post newspaper.

The newspaper reported that the new stores will include six Tops Markets, one Tops Superstore, one Central Food Hall. The others will be in other formats.

In the first nine months of this year, sales at Tops supermarkets grew by 10 per cent, 50 per cent higher than the grocery retailing sector grew. The company expects full-year sales growth of 12 per cent.

“We’ve seen improving signs of customer spending power since the end of October,” Phattaraporn said in an interview. “The shopping frequency at our stores did not decline, and the shopping value in October was about 15 per cent higher than in September.”

Read the full story on the Bangkok Post online.