MEXICO – On July 31, Sodimac opened its first store in Mexico, located in the municipality of Cuautitlán Izcalli, metropolitan area of Mexico City.

This Sodimac store has a sales area of 10,700 m2 and integrates the Homecenter and Constructor formats. With this opening, Sodimac now has 254 stores in the region spread across Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Peru and Uruguay, as well as Mexico.

The new store is the result of the 2016 joint venture between Organización Soriana of México with the Falabella Group of Chile for the development of the Sodimac home improvement store business and CMR financial products. Under the agreement Sodimac Mexico plans the opening of 20 stores throughout Mexico in the next five years. This will require an investment of 600 million dollars and this amount also includes the financial business.

“Arriving in Mexico consolidates the position of Sodimac in the region in the home improvement sector. It is a poorly penetrated market and very fragmented, so there are important opportunities for growth,” said Sodimac corporate CEO Enrique Gundermann.

In the Mexican market, Sodimac’s biggest competition will be US home improvement chains Home Depot and Lowe’s. With 122 stores at the end of 2017 and a presence since 2001, Home Depot is the leader in the segment in Mexico. Given the expectation generated by the entry of Sodimac into Mexico, Home Depot announced investments of 1,700 million Mexican pesos (USD 92 million) for 2018.