OREANDA-NEWS. On 10 April 2008 X5 Retail Group N.V., Russia's largest food retailer in terms of revenue, announced the beginning of a roll-out of soft discount stores  in Russia’s south.

Yuri Kobaladze, Managing Director of Corporate Relations of X5 Retail Group, said:

“The launch of this project is an important step in execution of our strategy of multi-format regional expansion.  In 2008 the Company plans to open approximately twenty Pyaterochka soft discounters in Krasnodar Krai and Rostov Oblast to compliment the eight Perekrestok supermarkets and one hypermarket that are already operating in Russia’s south. Multi-format presence in a region allows us to widen our customer base and significantly enhances our operational efficiencies in the region. ”

The first two Pyaterochka stores will be opened on April 19th in Krasnodar.  The new stores’ total selling area will be 700 sq. m. and the product assortment of each store will include approximately 2,500 SKUs.