PLANS to expand in the Visayas and Mindanao will help encourage the growth of small businesses, supermarket chain Puregold Price Club, Inc. said.
Puregold Vice-President for Operations Antonio G. Delos Santos II said that the company, whose core market is sari-sari store owners buying inventory to sell to consumers, has a new-store target of 25 locations.
“What we want is to put up stores in places that do not yet have Puregold,” Mr. Delos Santos told reporters on the sidelines of Puregold’s Tindahan ni Aling Puring (TNAP) Convention on Thursday.
“Very soon we will be opening in Pantukan, Davao de Oro and in Sindangan, Zamboanga del Norte,” he added.
He said there are also plans to open stores in the north, Metro Manila, and Bicol.
“We want Aling Puring’s footprint (to be nationwide) because we believe that it is not only the National Capital Region that needs the help of Aling Puring,” he said.
“We want Aling Puring to reach all places in the Philippines, especially Visayas and Mindanao, to help entrepreneurs in these regions,” he added.
He said that the company’s goal is to help businesses succeed by selling the right products.
“If more Puregold stores open, more jobs will be created,” he added.
Puregold President Ferdinand Vincent P. Co said the company’s business impact is not limited to the number of locations.
“When a sari-sari store thrives, a family moves forward, a community strengthens, and the economy grows from the ground up. By enabling our ‘Ka-Asensos’ (sharers in prosperity) to succeed, we are paving the road to thriving communities,” he added.
It said the TNAP program has become a “nationwide platform for micro-entrepreneurship.”
Puregold currently has a 512-store network. — Justine Irish D. Tabile