Budget groceries will soon be more easily accessible, as supermarket chain FairPrice yesterday announced plans to open six more FairPrice Shop stores this year to serve increased demand. It will bring the total number to 12.

The outlets, which are one-tenth the size of its normal supermarkets, are located near the homes of lower-income families and feature a smaller but more affordable range of products that fill half the store.

These include house brand products; Yellow Dot items, the lowest-priced goods in each product category; and Every Day Low Price offerings that are the most popular among shoppers and competitively priced.

House brand Value Fresh is stocked exclusively at these stores.

Its range includes 30 types of fresh vegetables priced 5 to 10 per cent lower than the cost of Pasar, FairPrice's other range of house brand produce.

The FairPrice Shop format was launched last July, with the conversion of two FairPrice supermarkets in Eunos and Circuit Road.

After their conversion, the two no-frills supermarkets saw an 8 per cent increase in sales compared to the previous year's, FairPrice said.

Other stores were launched in Henderson Crescent and Silat Avenue as well as in Jurong East Street 24 and Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10 later in the year.

The locations of the new stores have yet to be determined.

Among FairPrice's range of house brands, FairPrice and Budget are the top sellers at the stores, followed by Pasar and Value Fresh.

Other supermarkets such as Cold Storage, Giant and Sheng Siong also have house brand items.

They are usually between 5 per cent and 20 per cent cheaper than other labels since the supermarket chains are able to cut down on the intermediary costs and advertising.

FairPrice chief executive Seah Kian Peng said the no-frills supermarket format has been well-received by residents.

"One of the ways FairPrice serves its role as a social enterprise is by ensuring that essentials remain affordable to help address the rising cost of living," he added.

Shoppers at the Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10 outlet yesterday said while prices of non-house brand items are the same, they like the wider budget range of necessities.

Retiree Lee Xin Ling picked up a jumbo loaf of house brand FairPrice bread for $1.25, about half the price of Gardenia's.

The 73-year-old said: "For older people like me, this shop is more convenient to buy basic things like bread and fruit."