TAIWAN-BASED Buynow Electronic Information Co will open its second Shanghai outlet in September as part of its plan to triple its stores on the mainland to tap growing spending on information-technology products.

The new outlet, in the Pudong New Area near the Century Avenue Metro station, features a 20,000-square-meter business area.

"There's a mature business environment in the area where the residents' purchasing power is no less than in Puxi (west of the Huangpu River)," said Henry Liu, regional general manager of Buynow.

The company's first outlet in the city, also the first on the mainland, was opened in 1998 in Xujiahui in Puxi's downtown. That mall sold 17 billion yuan (US$2 billion) worth of computers, accessories, phones and other IT gadgets last year, and the company expects the figure to reach 20 billion yuan this year.

Liu said the company spent years studying whether - and where - to open a second outlet, as Buynow usually runs only one major store in a city. But "it's time to make the move" based on the company's expansion plan.

The plan calls for 35 malls to operate across the mainland by 2010, up from the current 10 stores, in 30-odd major cities, with an investment of at least six billion yuan.

Each store will be around 20,000 square meters. Smaller stores will be opened in places close to regional flagship outlets.

Annual profit rose by more than 10 percent in the past four years, company officials said, without giving a specific figure.

Buynow's mainland sales were around 70 billion yuan last year. The figure is expected to reach 120 billion yuan this year.