OREANDA-NEWS. Lenta, (LSE, MOEX: LNTA) one of the largest retail chains in Russia, is pleased to announce the opening of two new supermarkets implementing its plans of expansion in the Moscow region.

The new stores of a supermarket format have been opened in the towns of Noginsk and Fryazino. Both stores are located in densely populated areas with good pedestrian and transport links. The stores have selling space of 1,300 sq m and 1,200 sq m respectively. Each of the stores has 50 car parking spaces and 10-11 cash registers helping to provide customers with seamless shopping experience.

The supermarkets' assortment includes circa 6,200 SKUs with a special emphasis on a variety of fresh and locally produced goods. Like in all other Lenta stores customers of the new supermarkets will take advantage of the loyalty cards and Lenta's private labels.

The stores are open from 8:00 am to 11:00 pm every day. Both supermarkets are rented.

The opening of Lenta's two new supermarkets in the Moscow Region brings the total number of stores to 80 hypermarkets and 12 supermarkets.

Jan Dunning, Chief Executive Officer of Lenta, commented:

“Last year Lenta entered the market of Moscow and the Moscow region with the launch of a supermarket format. We wanted to see how efficient this new format would become in comparison to our traditional hypermarket format, how attractive we will be able to make the value for money offering in Moscow where the market is very well developed.

We are confident that combining two formats has improved our business-model. Today revenue per square meter in our supermarkets is almost on par with the same figure in our hypermarkets. The opening of a distribution center in Moscow region in autumn 2013 played a significant role allowing us to build effective logistics chain tailored for the supermarkets and ensuring low prices for our customers. In the first quarter of 2014 more than 1.7 mln customers have visited our first ten supermarkets, which were opened in 2013.

In 2014 we plan to open a total of 15 and 24 hypermarkets across Russia.”