OREANDA-NEWS  On 14 November was announced, that opening remodeled store in Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizye highway METRO Cash & Carry completes the project of stores remodeling in Ukraine. The company has remodeled 13 stores investing more than UAH 50 Mio.

The new planning of the nonfood area is realized according to the latest international METRO Cash & Carry concept and adapted to local requirements. The new shop-in-shop concept divides the nonfood area into thematic worlds. The inside shop effect is achieved through the combination of high and low racks.

Remodeling process started in METRO Poznyaky store, Kyiv. The store was reopened after remodeling on June 6, 2007. Since that time all new store has been opening with the new trade floor planning.

All thirteen remodeled METRO Cash & Carry stores changed their trade floor planning in nonfood area and added new departments. Serving professional customers from HoReCa and trade sector the 7.000 – 10.000 sq. m. METRO Cash & Carry stores each enlarged the area of its Household, Office Equipment, Consumer Electronics and Seasonal Goods departments by over 700 sq. m. 

In Household the assortment of glasses has increased by almost 50%. The offer of professional high quality dishes has grown up to 30%. The office equipment department offers a wider range of office furniture, technical equipment and stationary assortment. Consumer electronics with an extended selection of TV-sets, audio technique and DVDs are meeting customers with an optimized assortment and a new modern design.

"We remodeled trade area in our wholesale stores in order to shorten the purchasing time and make this process more comfortable for our customers. We enlarged our assortment introducing many new articles to our professional customers and made the trade area more organized", - said Maksym Gatsus, Operations Director of METRO Cash & Carry Ukraine.

The Humidor department was opened in METRO Cash & Carry stores on Leninskyi Ave., Donetsk and on Moskovskyi Ave., Kyiv. The Humidor offers over 140 unique wines up to UAH 5.000 per bottle imported from France, Italy and the New World and of over 61 types of cigars from Dominican Republic, Cuba, Nicaragua and Honduras. All products belong to premium class and are offered at price 10% lower than in specialized stores.

The reopened stores in Kyiv (Petrivka), Donetsk (Vzlyotna Str.), Dnipropetrovsk (Zaporizke highway), Kharkiv, Lviv and Odesa (Aeroportivska Str.) have the room with premium class meat products, which covers offers an assortment of over 120 meat products sourced both from Ukrainian producers as well as from Spain, Hungary and Italy. 

For professional HoReCa customers and suppliers METRO Cash & Carry created a special zone for their restaurants and product promotion in its Petrivka store. In the new Tasting kitchen they can promote their companies and products. 

The new professional entry lets owners of METRO Cash & Carry Gold Card directly into the food close to the Gold Card cash desks where top Gold Card customers can enjoy a range of special services.

Within 5 years of operations in Ukraine METRO Cash & Carry opened 21 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 and Makiyivka. Having invested into the Ukrainian economy EUR 400 Mio. METRO Cash & Carry created about 7 000 new jobs for Ukrainians.

METRO Cash & Carry is a sales division of the METRO Group, one of the most important international retailing and trading companies. In 2007, the group reached sales of EUR  64.3 billion. The company has a headcount of more than 280,000 employees and operates about 2,500 outlets in 31 countries. The operating business is performed by the sales brands which operate independently in the market: Metro/Makro Cash & Carry, Real hypermarkets, Media Markt and Saturn – market leader in consumer electronics centers in Europe, and Galeria Kaufhof department stores. More information at: www.metrogroup.de.