KUALA LUMPUR: Aeon Big (M) Sdn Bhd is planning to open up its first 1,000 sq m Aeon Big shop by the first quarter (Q1) of next year, head Sheikh Farouk Sheikh Mohamed said.
The company plans to add 10 stores per year for the next five years, a shift from its current bread and butter hypermarket model.
"These smaller stores will be located in residential areas, with majority of them will be in the Klang Valley. We are in talks with several property developers for the project," Sheikh Farouk said.
The last 18 month, he added, had changed the retail business as well as customers' behaviour in buying goods.
"We noticed that customers now do not want to go into big hypermarket and spending hours there. After the Movement Control Order (MCO) 3.0, customers will go to small stores near their houses to purchase essential items.
"If you ask me is this the way forward, I think it is the way that works for the time being," he told the New Straits Times in an interview recently.
On the company's traditional hypermarket model, Sheikh Farouk said while holding back new launches, the company was studying the right concept and right size for hypermarket before expanding in the future.
"Hypermarket business is no longer about having 5,000 sq m to 10,000 sq m compared to 10 years ago. Now we are talking about half the size.
"We are also challenging ourselves to really see what kind of assortment and categories that we require in a hypermarket model. So what I want to do is actually not to give you any numbers for today but Aeon Big has three main businesses, one of them is the hypermarket.
"Currently we have 21 (hypermarkets). Of course I would like to expand two to four stores either next year or the next two years," he added.