Expansion of Ramstore supermarket chain continues

The Ramenka company will open a new supermarket of its Ramstore chain in the town of Zelenograd in Moscow's suburbs on February 1, 2003. The total area of the new shopping center will reach 3,000 sq. m, including 1,450 sq. m. of shopping area. A parking lot for 100 automobiles will be built near the supermarket.

Ramenka underlined that this would be the first Ramstore outside the Moscow circle road. Its opening is a part of Ramenka's program of expansion of the Ramstore chain into other regions of Russia.

Within the framework of this program, the company plans to open Ramstores in Krasnoyarsk and Kazan. Additionally, Ramenka is considering the possibility of building shopping facilities on Novosibirsk, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod and Rostov-on-Don after 2004. It also plans to open shopping centers in St. Petersburg. Two plots of land have already been purchased for that purpose, and construction will start in 2004.

Ramstore's pricing policy will be standard for all regions, although the product range for regional markets will be somewhat different, and the proportion of non-food products will be higher.

Ramenka invested $100m in the development of the Ramstore hypermarket chain in Russia in 2002, and it plans to invest the same amount in 2003. The total amount of investments by the company has reached $250m since 1997. As RBC reported earlier, the Ramenka's sales volume in Russia reached $300m in 2002. It is expected to increase by 30% to $400m in 2003.

© &to=http://www.rbc.com' target=_blank>RBC

&to=http://www.ramstore.ru/' target=_blank>RAMSTORE