The Lucky Supermarket Group opened its seventh outlet in Cambodia on the ground floor of the Rose City building on Norodom Boulevard yesterday, with company representatives saying it believed it would attract more foreign customers.

Richard Seah, CEO of DFI Lucky Private Limited, said the new location was ideal for a supermarket because of the large expatriate population living in villas and condominiums nearby.

“This is good area with a high population concentration,” he said, adding that he expected the new outlet would attract 400 to 500 customers a day.

The new Lucky outlet is located near the site for the new Aeon Mall currently being built by Japanese investors at an estimated cost of $205 million.

With completion for Aeon Mall scheduled for 2014, it is likely to be a strong competitor for the new Lucky supermarket, but Seah said it is not a cause for concern as the competition would be healthy and generate job opportunities, promote good service and give plenty of choice to customers.

“Competition always happens in countries experiencing growth like Cambodia,” he said, adding that before the opening of the new outlet in Sangkat Tonle Bassac, Chamkarmon district, DFI Lucky had studied its potential.

He said that the new store would attract more foreign customers than local ones because there are expats living in the surrounding the area.

The Lucky Suspermarket Group, which opened its first supermarket in 1993, joined a stable of brands controlled by Jardine Matheson’s Dairy Farm in March this year.

Teresa Kochel, a Lucky customer who lives nearby the new store, said she regularly drives to the branch on Sihanouk Boulevard or to the Bayon Market five days per week before the Rose Garden outlet opened.

“It is very close; I’m so excited,” she said, adding that she had spent $65 during the supermarket’s first day.