MY Giant supermarket

Malaysian supermarket Giant has announced it will open four new hypermarkets in Malaysia in 2015.

The Malaysian retailer, a subsidiary of GCH Retail, will add to its network of 126 stores, cementing its spot as Malaysia’s biggest hypermarket chain. The four hypermarkets will open in Klang Valley, Sarawak, Perlis and Trengganu, with a fifth to open in Petrajaya in 2016.

“Giant will seek to maintain its niche by continuing to offer modern, clean and customer-friendly shopping environment, wide aisle [and] many varieties of products and, above all, fair prices,” said Andrew Smith, Giant’s Sarawak general manager for merchanise and marketing, adding that competition was good for the industry.

“Obviously, the shoppers will be the real winners ... the market is big enough for everybody.”

Alongside the new hypermarkets, GCH Retail, which runs the Malaysian operations of Hong Kong-based Dairy Farm Holdings as well as Cold Storage supermarkets, Mercato and Jason’s, will see its convenience store chain G-Express open 500 new stores in the coming five years. G-Express operates eight convenience stores in Malaysia, with the new ambitions seen as an attempt to ramp up competition against Japan's 7-Eleven stores.