Philippine Seven Corp, the 7-Eleven Philippines operator, says it will open 412 new stores this year.
For the second successive year the listed company will budget P3.5 billion (US$70 million) for capital expenditure.
The company has just opened its 2000th outlet, at Legaspi Village in Makati City.
The majority of the new stores will be opened in Luzon, with 50 scheduled for the Visayas and 50 for Mindanao.
Philippine Seven president and CEO Jose Victor Paterno says half the new stores will be company owned and operated, the other half franchised.
“We will stick to the provinces first because we have experience and we know the market. The sales of the others can’t support the high rents in the metro. If we cannot pay it, we won’t enter,” Paterno said during a press briefing.
Sales at 7-Eleven Philippines stores rose 23 per cent in 2016 to P32 billion (US$636 million).
Paterno said there is a lot of room for the convenience store industry to expand. He anticipates the total number of all brands of c-stores in the nation will exceed 15,000 within 10 years – almost four times the current number.
