Carrefour to Approach from Regions

The world second retailing giant, Carrefour, is staging the Russia’s expansion. The first hypermarket of the French chain will probably open next year in Gorizont (Horizon) mall, Rostov-on-Don, and the company is said to be eyeing sites in Siberia. For Carrefour, it will be much easier to work in the regions than in the capital, the retailers speculate.
Gorizont owners are currently in talks with Carrefour about accommodating a hypermarket of the latter, said Dan Polonsky, general director at Gorizont mall. “We set to negotiations far back in May. Then, the chain’s representatives arrived for the first stage. The lease with Carrefour hasn’t been signed yet, but the French looked pleased with the mall,”

In Gorizont, Carrefour is expected to replace today’s lessee, Ramstore. Besides, the owners plan to widen the sales area from 7,000 sq meters to 15,000 sq meters, which is in line with Carrefour’s standards. Carrefour didn’t comment on its Russian plans yesterday, but a raft of regional developers forecasted it would launch the first hypermarket here already in 2007.

Nowadays, three global retailers are operating on the market of Russia - Metro Group (Metro Cash&Carry и Real), French Auchan Group and German Rewe Group (in partnership with Russia’s Marta Holding). Together with Carrefour, Russia will probably welcome the stores of its key competitor, the U.S. Wal-Mart, which is now in talks to buy out a part of retail business of Turkish Koç Holding.