MYDIN: from a wooden Kota Bharu shop to a 77-branch Malaysian retail network

Tuan Mydin Mohamed opens a small wooden shop in Kota Bharu.

The first Syarikat Mydin Mohamed shop opens in Jalan Tok Hakim, selling toys and general merchandise. The business starts in the same year Malaya gains independence.

The family business story had already survived an earlier collapse.

MITI's corporate profile records that Mydin Mohamed's father had operated a shop in Penang before it was destroyed during the Japanese Occupation, leaving the family to rebuild its trading base.

That earlier loss is part of the family history rather than the formal start of MYDIN itself, which the company dates to 1957.

The family opens a second wooden shop in Kuala Terengganu.

Datuk Murad Ali Mydin leads the expansion beyond Kota Bharu, extending the business across the East Coast while keeping its value-and-wholesale positioning.

Ameer Ali Mydin takes the MYDIN name into Kuala Lumpur.

After returning from a banking career, Ameer Ali opens a small Jalan Masjid India outlet. MITI records a rented 600 sq ft shop and about RM100,000 worth of merchandise as the starting point.

The family business converts from a sole proprietorship into a private limited company.

The change creates a more formal corporate structure as the chain prepares for a larger national retail footprint.

Mydin Mohamed Holdings Berhad becomes the formal group structure.

MITI records the business being registered as Mydin Mohamed Holdings Berhad, with Tuan Mydin as chairman, his sons as directors and Ameer Ali serving as managing director.

MYDIN makes the leap into the hypermarket format in Subang Jaya.

The first MYDIN hypermarket and shopping-centre format marks a major change in scale, putting the local family retailer into direct competition with large international retail chains.

The small wooden-shop model has become a multi-format national chain.

The Malaysia Retailers Association records 74 stores at the time, spanning hypermarkets and other retail formats, while MYDIN also expands into e-commerce partnerships.

COVID-19 and then major flooding test the economics of a large physical retail network.

Ameer Ali later describes the lockdown period as one of the company's hardest operating periods because lower sales collided with rent and employee obligations. MYDIN also faced major flood disruption in 2021.

MYDIN opens the Tunjong hypermarket in Kota Bharu.

The new large-format store brings the hypermarket model back to the state where the original wooden shop was founded 65 years earlier.

MYDIN reports 61 branches, nearly 7,000 employees and about 130,000 stock-keeping units.

The Bernama snapshot shows how far the business had moved from its single-store beginnings while still emphasising value pricing and mass-market retail.

MYDIN's official site now describes a 77-branch nationwide footprint.

The company continues to position itself as a home-grown halal retailer built around affordability, wholesale-style pricing, integrity and family continuity.