Nguyen Thi Hong Huong, general director of the store chain selling mostly fashion items, told a press conference in HCMC yesterday to mark the company’s tenth anniversary that the company would set up 35 new stores a year until 2015.

With this strategy, the company targets to become the top retailer in Vietnam’s garment and textile industry and the nation’s third biggest retailer of merchandise, she said.

Huong said her company enjoyed an advantage over other retailers in looking for good sites to open stores owing to support from other members of the Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group. Vinatex Mart will also join forces with other retailers to expand its system.

The company currently operates 58 fashion supermarkets, stores and trade centers in 24 cities and provinces across the country. Huong said authorities in different provinces were willing to support Vinatex Mart to open stores in their localities as a catalyst to boost the retail sector within their precincts.

Huong told reporters that Vinatex Mart was also the pioneer in opening stores in hospitals countrywide, which were faring quite well. The company will open more stores in industrial parks and export processing zones in the near future.

Vinatex Mart specializes in mainly fashion items. Out of over 1,000 suppliers for the store chain, 300 are textile and garment enterprises.

The company targets to boost sales of garment and textile products in its system to 60% of its total revenue compared to the current proportion of 44%.

Given the fast expansion of its system, Vinatex Mart over the past few years has enjoyed an average revenue growth rate of 62% a year, she said without further elaboration.

On the occasion of its tenth birthday, Vinatex Mart announced a promotion program worth VND20 billion by discounting products and offering gifts to customers.