Xinyu Hengdeli, a mainland China luxury watch retailer, has announced plans to open at least 26 new stores in the second half of 2008.
The company plans to invest about CNY5 million to CNY8 million in each store and the total investment will be about CNY208 million.
Zhang Yu, chairman of Xinyu Hengdeli, said that although the company's sales were affected by the Sichuan earthquake and the flood in Hunan Province in the first half of 2008, its same-store sales still attained an increase in double-digit percentages and the average price of its products increased by 15%.
Zhang expressed intentions to expand the company's businesses in Taiwan and Macau. As the relationship between Taiwan and mainland China improves, new commercial opportunities will appear in Taiwan. Therefore, Xinyu Hengdeli plans to invest more than CNY10 million to open stores in Taipei before the end of 2008.
With regard to Xinyu Hengdeli's future development in future, Zhang said that the company will develop expensive products such as diamonds, gems, luxurious pens, and leather products along with its main watch sector. To implement this new strategy, the company has respectively acquired an 80% stake of Larry Jewelry (Hong Kong) and Larry Jewelry (Singapore) for under CNY360 million.