OREANDA-NEWS. O'KEY GROUP S.A. (LSE: OKEY), a leading Russian food retailer, today announced the opening of its first hypermarket in Cherepovets, Vologda Region, Northwest Russia. The store is the eighth opening in 2014, extending O'KEY Group's footprint to 27 regions.

Vladislav Kurbatov, Sales Director of O'KEY Group, commented: "We are a company that originated in Northwest Russia and run 40% of our business there. Local residents know us and prefer us for our consistent high quality, level of service, low prices and wide product portfolio catering to a range of consumers. The first O'KEY hypermarket in the Vologda Region meets the high standards that we have set for ourselves. In addition to a great store, we are providing local residents with a large park in the adjoining green area with a cycle track and playgrounds. We also launched a city-wide contest to choose the best design for a 'I Love You, Cherepovets' sign to be installed in the park next summer."

Alexander Sergushev, the First Deputy Mayor of Cherepovets, said: "O'KEY stands out for its commitment to a high level of customer service, fully in line with the strategy of the city of Cherepovets to provide residents with a comfortable living environment. O'KEY is a socially responsible company, a fact confirmed by its investment in a park opened on the City Day of Cherepovets. We firmly believe that the park will become a favourite location for many of our residents."

The new store is located at 2 Raakhe Street, Cherepovets. The hypermarket's total floor-space amounts to 13,927m2, including trading space of 7,319m2.

The shopping complex is equipped with a parking lot with 600 spaces. The store offers customers more than 40,000 SKUs, with non-food items accounting for approximately 40% of the total. The store has 313 employees.

This is the Group's 68th hypermarket and 107th store overall, including supermarkets, with an aggregate trading space exceeding 543,000 square meters.