OREANDA-NEWS  On 19 December was announced, that METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine opened its first store in Mariupol which is the fourth store in Donetsk region and the 23rd in Ukraine. The investment amounts to UAH 190 mln. creating 300 new jobs for local citizens. Together with two METRO Cash & Carry stores in Donetsk and one in Makiyivka the company’s total investment into the region exceeds UAH 600 mln. having created more than 1,000 jobs in the four regional stores.

Located on a 7 ha land plot on Volodarske Prospekt the new wholesale store was constructed by Donbaszhylstroy Ltd. as general contractor together with eight local construction and design companies.

METRO Cash & Carry offers its professional customers in Mariupol a wide assortment of 28 000 food and non-food products under one roof at best possible wholesale prices on a net sales area of 7 000 square meters. Customers enjoy a spacious car park for 570 cars of which 80 are roofed.

“With our store opening in Mariupol we fill the last white spot of the map in Eastern Ukraine and are now represented with 11 wholesale stores in the biggest eight cities in Eastern Ukraine. Despite the financial crisis we are proud to have been able to realize successfully all five planned store openings for this year. We are confident that our stable wide assortment at best wholesale prices will contribute to the further development of small and medium-sized businesses in Mariupol” – said Axel Hluchy, Managing Director of METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine.

On 13 October METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine launched an EDLP (Every Day Low Price) program for 1 000 food and non-food products offering these articles at permanently reduced prices in response to the financial crisis to support its customers in these difficult times. As a part of the EDLP program the entire ARO own brand assortment comprising 650 articles in the price entry segment was also permanently reduced by 10% as a response to higher customer demand for discounted products with a comparable quality level to A brands.

Sourcing over 90% of its food and non-food products from over 1 200 Ukrainian producers, distributors and importers METRO Cash & Carry intends to intensify its co-operation with local producers, especially in fresh categories. Currently METRO co-operates with almost 30 suppliers from Donetsk region.

Mariupol Deputy Mayor Mr. Davydenko, Head of Zhovtneviy City Administration Mr. Karunik and Axel Hluchy, Managing Director of METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine, cut the symbolic ribbon opening the 23rd METRO Cash & Carry store in Ukraine.

After the opening ceremony the owners of local restaurants, hotels, bars, catering companies and traders visited the HoReCa & Trader conference. The participants learnt about the METRO wholesale formula, loyalty programs and special services developed exclusively for HoReCa customers and traders. For them the company organized product and wine tasting, in particular presenting the products sold under its own brands Aro and HoReCa Select.

Within 5 years of operations in Ukraine METRO Cash & Carry opened 23 wholesale stores: three in Kyiv, two in Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa, one in Kharkiv, Lviv, Luhansk, Kryvyi Rih, Poltava, Vinnytsa, Zaporizhya, Chernivtsi, Mykolaiv, Rivne, Ivano-Frankivsk, Makiyivka, Simferopol and Mariupol. Having invested into the Ukrainian economy EUR 450 mln. METRO Cash & Carry created 7 000 new jobs for Ukrainians.