Injap Sia opens1st supermarket

MANILA, Philippines — Mang Inasal founder Edgar “Injap” Sia II opened yesterday his first supermarket under  the pioneering brand, MerryMart Grocery Centers.

This marks a homecoming of sorts for Sia whose family has been operating a grocery chain in Capiz.

He said the family’s experience in the retail business bodes well for his new supermarket brand.

“This is going back to our basics. My grandfather started his grocery store in the 1950s  in our hometown. My parents as well opened their own  grocery business way back in 1989 and have been operating successfully for 30 years and counting. This background gives our family extensive experience in the retail business,” Sia said.

A company under Injap Investments Inc., MerryMart Grocery Centers Inc. opened its first branch at the ground floor of DoubleDragon Plaza in the Manila Bay area.

MerryMart aims to cover all the grocery retail categories from small, medium and large grocery retail formats.

Moving forward, the company has a goal of rolling out a total of 1,200 branches nationwide by 2030.

Sia said the supermarket chain also aims to reach P120 billion in systemwide sales within 12 years.

He said MerryMart would serve as a platform for the existing local and traditional groceries to convert and be part of a modern branded retail chain network while retaining ownership of the store as a franchisee of MerryMart.

He believes that MerryMart would enable the current traditional retailers to future-proof themselves and keep them relevant for the next many decades.

It would also enable them to bridge the ongoing shift from traditional retail to modern retail. This shift is inevitable when a developing country evolves to eventually become a first world country.