Tycoon Lucio Co’s The Keepers Holdings Inc. (Keepers), the largest imported liquor distributor in the Philippines, is going directly to consumers to sell its products by putting up a chain of its own liquor stores.

The firm disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange that its Board of Directors has approved management's proposal to incorporate a subsidiary to establish a chain of retail outlets dedicated for alcoholic beverages and related products.

Currently, the firm sells its products across all fringes of the Philippine archipelago through an extensive distribution ecosystem with over 200 distribution partners.

It also has a synergistic partnership with parent company Cosco Capital’s grocery retail network consisting of 511 Puregold Price Club stores and 29 S&R Membership Shopping Club branches.

This comes as Keepers is benefitting from growing market preference for higher-priced imported brands amid recovering consumer confidence.

“The spirits segment is undergoing shifts in consumer preferences in favor of higher-quality, premium offerings – a phenomenon that the Group has and will continue to capitalize on to gain ground against local competitors,” the company said in a briefing to stock analysts.

It noted that premiumization is fueled by consumers’ high affinity for imported products, growing sophistication and favoring quality over quantity, growth in disposable income, and the emerging middle class.

Keepers noted that, this year, the market share of higher-priced liquor will grow to 36 percent from 25 percent in 2021 while the share of low priced products (below ₱100 a bottle) will contract to 64 percent in 2025 from 75 percent.

For over twenty years, The Keepers Holdings Group has brought and served Filipino consumers the leading international brands of spirits, wines and specialty beverages into the Philippines.

These iconic global brands include Johnnie Walker, Chivas Regal, Glenfiddich, Suntory, Jinro, Jose Cuervo, Jim Beam, Penfolds, Red Bull and many others.

During the first quarter of 2025, Keepers posted a 14.3 percent growth in net income to ₱690 million from the ₱604 million earned in the same period last year driven by the strong sales volume performance from the imported brandy segment.

Keepers recorded consolidated revenue of ₱4.06 billion for the first quarter of 2025, a 20.9 percent growth from the previous year on the back of an 18 percent growth in volume of cases sold for the period.

This was driven principally by Alfonso, the leading imported brandy in the market, which has already surpassed its pre-pandemic levels, premiumizing market and on-premise channel rebound.