‘If a company owns five or more retail grocery stores, it is considered to be a chain; of all Yekaterinburg’s grocery shops, 169 supermarkets belong to federal chains and 257 stores and catering units belong to regional chains (there are 26 of them operating in the city), besides, there are nine local retail chains in Yekaterinburg,’ Chairperson of Yekaterinburg Commodities Market Committee Elena Chernysheva announced at a press conference on April 23, 2007.

According to Ms Chernysheva, these chains are mainly made up of hypermarkets, supermarkets, and shops-next-door, with the latter comprising more than 70% of the total number of chain stores. The market tends to have a large number of takeovers and mergers as well.