VkusVill, roughly translated as TasteVille, wants to open its first branch outside Russia in the coming weeks. The first planned store will open the Netherlands, in all probability in Amsterdam. The supermarket also has plans in France and China, and the company confirmed being interested in – but not having concrete plans for – Belgium. PR manager Anna Platova told our editor that: “We would like to find a Belgian team for market research and for possible store openings.”
1200 stores, zero loans
In Russia, the supermarket chain opens a whopping two new stores each day: since its establishment in 2009, Krivenko has opened more than 1200 stores and the chain has achieved annual sales growth of 60%. The shops are mainly small, but in Moscow the chain is now also planning larger stores with their own cafeteria and wine assortment for the first time. In addition, VkusVill is rolling out mini shops in office buildings, where self-checkout is used. “Our concept is the result of hundreds of experiments”, says Krivenko, who therefore sees no competition.
