President Preecha Ekkunakul said each new outlet would cost 300 million to 600 million baht, and create about 500 to 600 jobs per store..

At this rate, sales of Robinson would grow by 10% per year until 2014 if the country's economic growth continues to average between 3% and 4%..

``There is room to open new department stores in Thailand when compared to developed countries. We now operate 22 Robinson stores in 13 provinces nationwide. I have found 20 more provinces with potential for department stores,'' he said..

This year, Robinson will spend 2.4 billion baht to build four department stores: one in Trang, to be opened in November, and the other three in Chiang Rai, Phitsanulok and on Rama IX Road in Bangkok, to be opened next year..

Of the total investment budget, about 650 million baht will be for Robinson in Trang. Developed under the lifestyle-complex concept, it will be used as the prototype for expansion into small and mid-sized cities..

The Robinson complex in Trang will have retail space of 28,000 square metres. Of the total, about 10,000 sq m are for Robinson Department Store and the balance for smaller shops..

Apart from the new branches, the company plans to spend 300 million baht on marketing campaigns this year.

It has forecast sales this year to grow by 12% to 14.4 billion baht. Sales last year were 12.84 billion baht, up 3.4% year-on-year. Net profit was 1.01 billion baht last year, up 9.1% on 2008.

Mr Preecha also said the company was ready to step up its security measures to respond to the political situation.

``Political problems will affect the business in the short term. We did not consider it as a main factor when drafting our business plan. We will serve so long as our customers can go shopping and our staff can get to work. But if the situation gets worse, we are ready to close our stores,'' he said.

Shares of Robinson (ROBINS) closed yesterday on the SET at 11.80 baht, up 40 satang, in trade worth 22.63 million baht.