Thailand's CRC to open 1st mainland store in Hangzhou

Oct. 20, 2009 (China Knowledge) - Central Retail Corp, Thailand's leading retail conglomerate, plans to open its first mainland store under the Chinese name of Shanghai Tai-Central in the second quarter of next year in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province, the China Daily reported on Monday.

With an investment of RMB 600 millon, the Hangzhou store will be located at MixC, a giant shopping, office and residential complex in Hangzhou's Qianjiang New City, which is to become a new business district in the tourist city. It will have four floors and cover an area of 22,746 square meters.

The company sees business opportunity in Hangzhou, which has a large well-to-do customer base but very few quality department stores. In the meantime, by partnering with Hong Kong-based China Resources Land Ltd<1109>, the operator of MixC shopping complexes, CRC believes that it will make its move to China a big success, said e CRC CEO Tos Chirathivat.

The company also plans to open its second mainland department store in Shenyang in northeastern China's Liaoning Province in 2011 and a third one in Tianjin.

CRC, which is one of five core business groups operating under the Central Group of Companies, plans to open three to four stores by the year 2012 and then open three to four stores each year afterwards to reach the target of 40 stores in ten year, including ones in major cities such as Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.