Central Food Retail Co (CFR), operator of Tops supermarkets, is set to spend at least 1 billion baht to open 12 new stores next year.
"With the clear economic direction of this government, we're optimistic about the supermarket outlook next year," said Phattaraporn Phenpraphat, vice-president for marketing and public relations.
The planned stores include six Tops Markets, one Tops Superstore, one Central Food Hall and the rest in other formats.
The expansion excludes the Tops Daily format, which now has 24 branches.
The company plans to open six new stores by year-end, bringing total Tops outlets in all formats to 154.
Tops currently has six formats — Tops Market, Tops Superstore, Tops Superkhum, Tops Super, Tops Daily and Central Food Hall.
"We've seen improving signs of customer spending power since the end of October," Mrs Phattaraporn said.
"The shopping frequency at our stores did not decline, and the shopping value in October was about 15% higher than in September."
Sales at Tops supermarkets in the first nine months grew by 10%, outpacing industry growth of 6%.
The strong sales performance stemmed from the opening of new Tops Supermarkets in various formats, plus organic growth of 4-6% at existing stores.
Moreover, CFR launched value-for-money campaigns to attract shoppers to its Tops stores and help them save on groceries.
The company expects full-year sales growth of 12%.
In related news, Tops will set aside 100 million baht for a New Year gift basket campaign beginning tomorrow.
"Season's Giving 2015: Celebration of Precious Moments" will offer more than 150 styles of gift baskets featuring 1,000 items and selling for between 189 and 21,490 baht each.
Tops expects to generate 600 million baht in sales from the campaign, up by 20% from last year's drive.
The festive season should see fierce competition among supermarkets offering gift baskets, with stores pinning their hopes on bigger sales of the hampers to offset weak first-half revenue.
Tops will spend 50 million baht on two additional campaigns this year to spur sales at all branches nationwide.