By Yang Ya-min and Hollie Younger / Staff reporter, with staff writer
The Mega PX Mart Zhonglun (中崙) store in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山) would close on Sept. 13 after 22 years of business, Ruentex Development Co (潤泰創新) said today. More than 160 employees at the store would be assisted in finding new positions, with job openings to be made available in the coming days, Reuntex spokesman Chen Po-yu (陳柏宇) said. The Zhonglun store, previously an RT-Mart, opened in December 2004 as Taiwan’s first urban hypermarket in central Taipei.
The Zhonglun branch of Mega PX Mart in Taipei’s Zhongshan District is pictured in an undated photograph.
Due to high rents in the city center, the store never turned a profit in its 22 years of operation, Chen said. Even as its annual revenue exceeded NT$900 million (US$28.46 million) over the past few years, its annual losses amounted to several tens of millions of New Taiwan dollars, he added.
After the RT-Mart brand was acquired by PX Mart and the store was rebranded as PX Mart Plus, Reuntex lost joint procurement benefits and, combined with growing pressure from e-commerce, losses at the Zhonglun store reached more than NT$100 million last year, Chen said. Despite negotiations for rent deductions, the company assessed that it could not sustain operations and would have to cease operations, he said.The Mega PX Mart in New Taipei City’s Zhonghe District (中和) would remain in operation as it continues to generate annual revenue exceeding NT$1 billion, Ruentex Industries Ltd (潤泰全球) said.
