Expansion in Southeast Asia

Bruneian pet supplies retailer Nimanja has continued its expansion into Malaysia by opening the biggest pet store in the state of Sarawak. The 6 000 m² branch opened in Sibu, Sarawak, on 18 November 2022, bringing the number of Nimanja stores in the neighbouring Malaysian state to five. It is also the second branch to open in the port city. Other than these there are three branches in Miri, the Malaysian city bordering Brunei. “The new branch is purely a pet store,” says Nimanja founder Anderson Lim.  

The store in Sibu is one of three that opened during 2022. A branch was opened prior to this in the chain’s domestic market of Brunei, while a third store opened at the end of the year in Bintulu, a coastal town in Sarawak.

For the opening in Bintulu, ­Nimanja cooperated with an external partner for the first time. “For Bintulu we joined up with a member of the Samling/Park City family,” adds Anderson Lim. Park City is the real estate division of the Samling Group, a Malaysian conglomerate. Its owners feature in 32nd place on the Forbes list of the richest Malaysians.

The branch in Bintulu means that Nimanja ended 2022 with 16 stores across Borneo. Now the biggest pet store chain on the island, it takes in Brunei, parts of Malaysia with the states of Sarawak and Sabah and the federal territory of Labuan, and parts of Indonesia (Kalimantan). Nimanja now also intends to gain a foothold in Kuching, the main city in Sarawak with 570 000 inhabitants. “Kuching is a big market and so we must take care with our market entry,” points out Andersen Lim.