Taiwan FamilyMart Co (全家便利商店), one of the nation’s largest convenience store operators, said yesterday it had decided to continue to expand, using no less than NT$1.5 billion (US$49.3 million) in capital expenditure for next year.
This year, FamilyMart assigned about NT$1.5 billion in capital expenditure to boost its total number of outlets by about 300 to 2,800 by the end of the year.
FamilyMart chairman Pan Chin-ting (潘進丁) said the local economy had been affected by the escalating debt crisis in Europe.
However, Pan added that his company was not deterred at all by the current sluggishness in economic fundamentals and was determined to continue to expand next year.
Pan said he believed convenience store sales would continue to grow, because the business has become a pillar of the local retail sector with consumption remaining consistent.
He added that future investment would focus on establishing a logistics center that is scheduled for inauguration in the first half of next year, while the company would continue to add new outlets all over the nation.
According to FamilyMart, the company will open more large stores, each with an area of between 30 ping (99m2) and 35 ping, to provide venues in which people can socialize, and the outlets will provide more fresh food.
Currently, the convenience store chain operates more than 500 of the larger outlets across the country.
The company is finalizing its expansion plan for next year and deciding how many new stores will be added, it said.
Meanwhile, Pan said the FamilyMart chain in Taiwan would transform itself into a health food supplier and put more emphasis on environmental protection.
Pan said his company would continue to promote roasted sweet potato, which has become popular among local consumers and is expected to generate NT$200 million in sales for FamilyMart this year.
Cairo’s new monorail slices across the city skyline, running above the familiar chaos of blaring horns and aging buses’ exhaust fumes that mark rush hour below. The US$4.5 billion monorail, opened this month, is among Egypt’s most prominent new transport projects, part of a debt-funded infrastructure drive criticized for sapping state finances while bringing limited benefits to most of the country’s 109 million people. “It feels like you’re in a different country,” said Ramy Sayed, a restaurant manager, aboard a driverless Innovia 300 train. “No noise, no traffic, we’re not used to this.” The eastern line runs 56km from the bustling middle-class
Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) today unveiled a long-haul network expansion plan at a shareholders’ meeting in Taipei, including direct flights to Barcelona, Spain, and Zurich, Switzerland, as well as a service connecting Taipei, Sydney and New Zealand. Starlux is to become the first Taiwanese carrier to offer non-stop services to the two European cities, while the inaugural oceanic route is expected to expand transit opportunities within the Australia-New Zealand market, Starlux said. Flight services to Chicago, Dallas, Washington and New York are under evaluation, the airline added. Prior to the shareholders’ meeting, the airline earlier this year announced that it would be
Taiwanese prosecutors suspect that three people successfully smuggled at least one shipment of Nvidia Corp artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China after first exporting them to Japan, people familiar with the matter said. The trio was detained last week by the Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office for allegedly falsifying documents related to exports of Super Micro Computer Inc servers containing advanced Nvidia chips, which the US has barred from sale to China without a license from Washington. The move marked Taiwan’s first public crackdown on AI chip diversion after years of pressure from the US to take a more active role in curtailing
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) employee bonuses are likely to grow more than 30 percent this year, in line with the past few years as the company’s profits continue to set new records, an anonymous source cited TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) as saying yesterday. TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, is committed to taking care of its workers, the source said, citing Wei’s meeting with employees yesterday morning. Wei also expressed gratitude to employees for their contribution to the company’s improving bottom line, the source added. Since 2023, TSMC’s employee bonuses have grown at an annual rate of
RSS