B&Q, Britain's largest home improvement retailer, announced on Monday that its first store in Hong Kong would open in early 2007.

The store will be wholly owned by Hong Kong-based B&Q Asia Limited, a subsidiary of the Kingfisher Group. The project will involve total investment of more than 200 million HK dollars (25. 64 million US dollars) and create about 200 new jobs for Hong Kong, according to a government press release on Monday.

The new B&Q shop will take up 120,000 square feet over two floors in the MegaBox mall in Kowloon Bay. MegaBox is Hong Kong's first vertical mega mall, with more than 19 storeys across 1.1 million square feet of retail space.

A signing ceremony was held on Monday to mark the cooperation between B&Q and MegaBox Development Co. Limited, a subsidiary of Kerry Properties Limited.

"Hong Kong is one of the largest and most affluent markets in Asia and is a center for retailing excellence. We believe a B&Q store here will benefit Hong Kong consumers by making home improvement more accessible," CEO of B&Q Asia Limited Steve Gilman said.

The Executive Director & General Manager of MegaBox Development Co. Limited Tom Tong said B&Q would be the first big box home improvement retailer in Hong Kong. It will offer a wide range of home improvement products, with more than 25,000 individual product lines available under one roof.

Associate Director-General of Investment Promotion at Invest Hong Kong Simon Galpin warmly welcomed the investment by B&Q Asia in Hong Kong. "We at Invest Hong Kong are delighted to see this vote of confidence by a major European retailer in Hong Kong. We look forward to celebrating the grand opening of the new B&Q shop in 2007, and will continue to working closely with B&Q to facilitate their further expansion," he said.

B&Q is the number one Do-It-Yourself (DIY) retailer in Europe and the third largest in the world. With more than 60 stores opened internationally, including Beijing, B&Q employs more than 38,000 staff worldwide.

Source: Xinhua