PPG Renner is adding 30 new retail stores to its Brazilian distribution network this year, particularly in the South, adding to the estimated 90 stores previously in operation across the country. The company has also opened its first store in Montevideo, in neighboring Uruguay. The company goal for Brazil is to add 100 new stores over the next three years, according to a statement attributed to Rodrigo Schepf, the national director of sales and marketing for PPG do Brasil’s architectural paints, by the Jornal do Comércio.

New stores may also be opened in other neighboring countries in the Southern Cone, which includes Argentina, Chile and Paraguay, as well as Brazil and Uruguay.

Cities in Rio Grande do Sul state gaining new stores include: Aratiba; Erechim; Farroupilha; Passo Fundo; Porto Alegre; Sapiranga; and Santa Cruz do Sul. Many of the company’s existing stores are also being redesigned. Sales from refurbished and new stores in Brazil are expected to help the company reach a growth goal of seven to eight percent this year.

While many of PPG’s Latin American stores are company owned, the concessionaire model, including 700 in Mexico, is said to be under consideration for future growth in Brazil. Renner is a registered trademark of Renner Herrmann S.A. and Renner Sayerlack S.A., used under license by PPG.

At the same time more stores are being added, production capacity is growing. This year, the company opened a new resins plant in Gravataí, in Rio Grande do Sul. Last year, PPG Renner completed a $40 million project to add on-site resin production at its Sumaré, São Paulo state coatings manufacturing facility. Other South American countries with PPG manufacturing sites include Argentina, Colombia, and Surinam.

Within PPG Renner’s basket of marketing strategies, soccer fans are now able to purchase paint in special cans with the colors of two leading teams: one version of the Rekolor Pro architectural coating can features a blue label and the Gemio team logo, while the other has a red label and the Internacional logo.

In an altruistic program, PPG in July completed its first Colorful Communities project in Brazil, which helped to add color to the new Children’s Cancer Institute in Porto Alegre. “The Colorful Communities program provides PPG volunteers and products along with financial contributions to bring color and vitality to communities where the company operates around the world,” the company says.

In April, PPG announced that Adriana Macouzet was appointed vice president for Latin America, and general manager, protective and marine coatings ing Latin America, effective June 1. She will provide regional leadership for PPG in Latin America, excluding PPG Comex in Mexico.

Net sales for PPG in the Americas ex-United States were down 9.4 percent during the first quarter of this year to $480 million from $530 million in the year-earlier period, according to the company’s most recent SEC filings. “Protective coatings sales volumes grew versus the prior year in all regions, led by the U.S., Asia and Latin America, including benefits from expanded distribution through the Comex concessionaire network,” the Q1 reports.

PPG’s 2015 Annual Report, its latest, states that, “Demand in the Latin American economies was bifurcated, with economic growth continuing in Mexico, aided by increased industrial production. This was partly offset by economic contraction in South America, particularly in Brazil, due to high inflation and unemployment rates. Also, weakening South American currencies versus the U.S. dollar were unfavorable to PPG net sales.”