Wholesaler extends distribution network in Denmark
METRO Cash & Carry opens environmental friendly store in Aalborg

Aalborg, 26 September, 2007 – Today, Germany’s METRO Cash & Carry opened its first store in Aalborg, Denmark. It is the fifth location of the internationally leading self-service wholesaler in the country. Moreover, the Aalborg store is setting new standards for environment protection and energy saving.

”The METRO Cash & Carry store in Aalborg will provide professional customers such as hotels, restaurants and caterers as well as small retailers with services perfectly tailored to their requirements,” says Poul Erik Pedersen, Managing Director of METRO Cash & Carry Denmark. “Due to our wide assortment we are a one-stop location for everything they need.” The wholesale center occupies a selling area of around 11.000 square meters, provides free car parking units and extended opening hours. The product range covers up to 35.000 food and nonfood articles. “We are convinced that the METRO Cash & Carry store in Aalborg will be very successful and a big benefit for our professional customers in Denmark,” says Pedersen

The new Aalborg store is not only a further wholesale centre in Denmark, it will be a trend setting facility for new measures, techniques and layout modifications to reduce energy consumption in all stores of METRO Cash & Carry. “On the basis of our tests in Aalborg we will develop modules, which can be used in other stores individually or as a whole,” says Raimund Berning, Head of Repair & Maintenance, METRO Cash & Carry International.

Concretely, the company is testing an innovative cooling concept to decrease the emission of CO2. Fresh foods like meat, fish, diary products as well as fruits and vegetables are displayed in closed departments. This avoids the effusion of coldness and leads to a more efficient energy use. Moreover, state-of-the-art cooling shelf technology is applied. By this means 63 tons of CO2 can be saved every year only in this single store. This would be equal to the emission of an average car driving 262,500 kilometers or about 6.5 times around the globe.