Sep 23, 2013
MBV Retail Holdings Corp. of the Villar family is going big in retailing as it invests an initial P1 billion to pursue more expansion projects. “Because we are a housing company, I thought it is very logical for us to go into retailing…We can improve the logical support for the housing group and we are using this as a base,” said company chairman Manuel Villar in a media interview. Villar said the firm is spending P300 million this year to put up five small AllHome, a one-stop-shop home stores, in Antipolo, Muntinlupa, Starmall Alabang, San Fernando in Pampanga and Starmall in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan. AllHome is an affiliate of Vista Land, the country’s largest homebuilder owned by the Villar family. “We will put up AllHome in our Mindanao, Visayas and Luzon (housing projects) not only to supply our requirements but also to sell to our buyers,” Villar said. The company will also earmark P1.2 billion to establish next year four home warehouse stores with size of 10,000 square meters, he bared, without disclosing the locations. Apart from these home stores, Villar said it aims to end the year with 100 All-Day convenience stores rebranded from Finds. “Right now, we have 80 branches and we will end the year with 100. And hopefully by next year, we want to double the number under the All-Day convenience stores,” he noted. “There is consumer boom now and I can see it in our communities that really are growing fast…We saw the needs of our communities for these kinds of store. Subdivisions are looking for these (stores). Results were good,” he added. Villar said the company is starting a capitalization of P1 billion and will put more funding in the future. “By the end of the year, we will have fully used up (the P1 billion). We will be putting more capital as we go along. We will continue to expand as needed,” he further said. Meanwhile, the Vista Land and Lifestyle Inc. has opened Paseo de Andalucia, a village center within Camella Andalucia in San Fernando, Pampanga. AllHome and Puregold stores were also opened in the village center. “We will already start the opening of the phase two. We are finalizing the plan, we should start before the end of the year,” said Villar. The second phase of the lifestyle center to cost about P750 million comprises dining, retail and cinema projects. Other Vista Land shopping centers are: the Lakefront Wharf and the Lakefront Boardwalk in Sucat, Evia in Daang Hari, Vista Town Center in Antipolo, Vista Town Center in Cagayan de Oro and Savannah, Vista Land’s flagship project in the Visayas.
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