Chinese sportswear enterprise Xtep plans to open 800 to 1,000 new stores in the country's second- and third-tier cities this year, the company's president said on Sunday.

"The financial crisis is a serious blow to companies doing OEM (original equipment manufacturer) for overseas markets," said Ding Shuibo, president of Xtep (China) Co Ltd. "But we focus on the domestic market, which is less affected."

"As China's urbanization speeds up, there is huge potential in the Chinese domestic shoe market, especially in the second- and third-tier cities," Ding told China Daily.

Ding made the remarks on the sidelines of the 11th Jinjiang Footwear International Exposition held on April 19-22 in East China's Fujian province. The exposition is one of the country's largest footwear shows.

Jinjiang, a three-hour drive from Fuzhou, has more than 3,000 shoemakers and produces 40 percent of China's sports shoes.

Hong Kong-listed Xtep plans to employ 2,000 more workers and 10 more executives this year, as it has opened a new factory in Jinjiang.

Xtep has nearly 6,000 outlets around the country. The company's net profit surged to 508 million yuan last year, more than double that of 2007.

Xtep's rival Anta Sports, another leading sportswear maker based in Jinjiang, said earlier that it would postpone its overseas expansion plan and focus on the domestic market. Hong Kong-listed Anta's net profit increased 66.4 percent year-on-year to reach 895 million yuan last year.