Posted on 09:35 PM, June 29, 2010 [ BusinessWorld Online ]
CEBU CITY -- Retailer Benito S. Gaisano, this year’s Entrepreneur of the Year awardee in Cebu, is putting up three more shopping centers across Cebu province and plans to develop a mixed-use complex near existing commercial developments in Cebu City.
Mr. Gaisano, who belongs to one of five branches of the Gaisano family behind the chain of Gaisano outlets nationwide, said he would invest at least P100 million in each of the three new pocket malls carrying the brand Gaisano Grand that are being put up in Cebu.
“Sometimes, you have to go in and invest during bad times because the interest rates are usually low,” Mr. Gaisano said when asked if he was not deterred by the difficult economic times.
These new outlets will bring to 16 the total number of Gaisano Grand shopping centers in the Visayas and Mindanao. Three of these are in Mindanao while the rest are scattered all over Cebu and the Visayas.
Mr. Gaisano said he plans to put one or two more shopping centers in Mindanao next year.
The new outlet in Toledo City in western Cebu is targeted to open in the first week of July while the Minglanilla branch is expected to be opened within the last quarter of the year. Under construction is a Gaisano Grand Mall in Mandaue City.
Mr. Gaisano has also acquired a commercial arcade in Talamban in northern Cebu City, which would be torn down and replaced with a medium-rise building for another shopping center.
“This is still under study but hopefully, we can start construction within this year,” Mr. Gaisano said shortly before he received his Entrepreneur of the Year award from the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry last week.
Mr. Gaisano has also acquired a three-hectare property in Banilad, near the Asiatown IT Park and Waterfront Cebu City Hotel. This is envisioned to be developed into a mixed-use complex with a shopping center and a hotel.
The Gaisano Grand Group also operates two hotels, one in Davao and another in Bacolod, aside from its retail outlets in the Visayas and Mindanao. -- Marites S. Villamor
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