METRO Cash & Carry opens first wholesale store in Togliatti    

Togliatti, August 6, 2008 – Today, METRO Cash & Carry, the international leader in self-service wholesale, opened its first store in Togliatti. On a total sales floor of about 7,500 square meters the company exclusively caters for professional customers like hotels, restaurants as well as small and medium sized retailers. The METRO Cash & Carry Management Board as well as authorities from the Samara region and the city of Togliatti took part in the opening ceremony.

“We are convinced that our investment in the first METRO Cash & Carry store in Togliatti will have a positive impact on the future development of the city and the region as a whole,” said Milen Gentchev, Administrative Director of METRO Cash & Carry Russia. “Togliatti offers a big potential for our unique self-service wholesale business.”

In 2004, METRO Cash & Carry entered the region by opening its first store in Samara. The following years proved the benefits of the outlet for both, the company and the entire region. Therefore METRO Cash & Carry Russia decided to expand the network by opening the store in Togliatti. “Our presence in Togliatti means more investments in the city economy, several hundreds of new jobs and support to small and medium-sized business,” said Milen Gentchev. “We expect that our coming to Togliatti will be a good example for foreign and Russian investors interested to work here.”

The new METRO Cash & Carry outlet offers its professional customers everything they need under one roof. The high quality assortment comprises a wide variety of  30,000 food and non-food products. Up to 25 percent of the goods are sourced from local producers and suppliers of the Samara region, which gives an additional boost to the local economy. 

Main characteristics of theTogliatti store:
Investment – on average a new METRO Cash & Carry store is an investment of about € 20 million;
Gross floor area – 12,500 m
Sales area – 7,500 m
550 parking places
Assortment (food and nonfood) – 30 000 articles;
250 new jobs

Company information:

METRO Cash & Carry is represented in 29 countries with more than 600 self-service wholesale stores. With about 100,000 employees worldwide, the company achieved sales of about € 30 billion in 2006. METRO Cash & Carry is a sales division of the METRO Group, one of the most important international retailing and trading companies. In 2006, the group reached sales of about € 60 billion. The company has a headcount of some 257,000 employees and operates about 2,400 outlets in 30 countries. The operating business is performed by the sales brands which operate independently in the market: Metro/Makro Cash & Carry, Real hypermarkets and Extra supermarkets, Media Markt and Saturn – market leader in consumer electronics centers in Europe, and Galeria Kaufhof department stores.

More information at: www.metrogroup.de.

Contacts:
Oksana Tokareva
Head of Government and Public Relations Department
METRO Cash & Carry, Russia
Tel. +7 495 502 12 03
E-mail: Oksana.Tokareva@metro.com.ru