business

Retail store plans expansion

El Machetazo will invest $40 million in new outlets both within the capital and in the country’s interior.

The company, which owns Casa Goly and Govil reported growth in the two-digit range this year.

Panamanian retail store chain El Machetazo recently unveiled plans to invest $40 million in four new supermarket outlets over the next two years. Two of the new stores would be located in the capital, while the other two will open in the beach town of Coronado and in the province of Chiriquí.

The El Machetazo group, which also owns the hardware store Casa Goly and uniform manufacturer Govil, has reported double-digit growth so far this year, a situation that corresponds to the overall health of the country’s economy.

“We are very pleased with this growth,” said Elisa Gnazzo, director of Asuntos Corporativos y Legales for El Machetazo. “We are making significant improvements in our sales force to offer quality products to our customers, who have responded very well to our range of offerings.”

Gnazzo explained that the company hopes to open a local supermarket in the Metro Mall shopping center, which is being developed by the Roble Group sometime in 2009. The other store in the province would be located in the Coronado Village in Punta Chame.

The store in Chiriquí and possibly another in Las Cumbres won’t be ready until 2010.

The new stores would create around 600 jobs, in addition to the more than 3,000 people currently employed in all of El Machetazo’s stores.