SM Investments Corp. plans to put up 10 more retail stores, bringing the group’s retail store portfolio to 213 by year-end.

Last July, the company opened its 100th SaveMore store in Solano, Nueva Vizcaya.

The company’s retail business comes in various formats:  SM Department Store, SM Supermarket, SM Hypermarket, and Waltermart, apart from Savemore. The latter four however are the only formats to have stand-alone operations, with the SM Department store normally attached to the SM Group’s mall business.

“If you count  Waltermart, we have 203 stores as of now. Then before the end of the year, we’ll have 10 or nine more,” said Jose Maria  Mendoza, SM Retail head for supermarket.

Of the 10, most are SaveMore stores while one will be a Waltermart branch to  be opened  in Tagaytay by December.

The company is now pilot-testing its first convenience store, in partnership with Alfamart of Indonesia.

Mendoza said Alfamart will represent the company’s offering in “small format” retailing with the pilot stores measuring 150 sq.m., on the average.

SM Retail closed the first half with profit of P2.8 billion, slightly down from last year’s P2.9 billion.

Sales grew 9.1 percent to P91.2 billion.

SM Investments said it continues to be a market leader in the Philippines with its nationwide store-network.

“The food retail business in particular is on an aggressive expansion mode to penetrate the informal sector and both urban and rural communities,” the company said.

“In the department store business, the SM Store will continue to introduce fresh concepts and expand its stores nationwide through the expansion of SM malls in the provinces,” it added.