One of them has already been announced, a Bt5,000-square-metre Makro store to open on Koh Samui in December. It will target food retailers on the island, including caterers, restaurants and hotels.

The company will spend about Bt300 million to open the branch on Koh Samui, which already has hypermarket stores on it such as Tesco Lotus. Th

Suchada Ithijarukul, Makro's president, said the company was adjusting its inventory in all stores at major tourist destinations like Phuket and Chiang Mai to focus more on food products, in order to support local food retailers. Suchada declined to say where the second store would be located.

Siam Makro's overall sales were up 8.7 per cent in the first quarter, with food sales up 12 per cent. The company expects sales growth of 8-10 per cent this year and it's shooting for Bt50 billion in sales.

The company has also spent Bt30 million setting up a new distribution centre in Klong Luang district of Pathum Thani, which opened on February 26.

Suchada said the 7,000-square-metre distribution centre supported 29 Makro stores.

"The goal of setting up a distribution centre is to increase the service level to our clients at least 10 per cent, through development of better product availability in our stores," said Suchada.

She said the distribution centre facilitated "cross-docking" operations, with no stock kept on hand at the centre itself. It can handle about 45,000 cases of food a day, or about 1.35 million a month. About 160 suppliers distribute their products to Makro stores through the Klong Luang distribution centre.