Having trouble finding an Oxxo store? Never fear – 10,000 more are on the way.

Although Oxxo is already ubiquitous across Mexico, the chain’s owner plans to open about 10,000 additional stores over the next decade. That would increase the total number of Oxxos to just under 30,000 by 2031.

FEMSA CEO Eduardo Padilla Silva announced the 10-year goal in a telephone call with analysts. He said the coronavirus pandemic had slowed down the pace of new store openings but expressed confidence it would pick up soon.

Eugenio Garza y Garza, FEMSA’s finance director, said that 163 new Oxxos opened in the third quarter of 2021 and a total of 431 have opened this year.

“Our expansion operations slowed down a little due to the third wave of COVID. … As things are we still have the net goal of 800 new stores in Mexico this year, but we might fall a little short,” he said.

Juan Fonseca, FEMSA’s investor relations director, said 1,000 new store openings can be expected in 2022, the minimum annual number required for the company to reach its goal.

FEMSA, the world’s largest independent Coca-Cola bottling group and the second largest shareholder of multinational brewing company Heineken, also owns Oxxo stores in Colombia, Chile and Brazil. Some 350 new stores are expected to open in those markets next year, Fonseca said.

With reports from Reforma