‘Our retail food market appears to be developing quite successfully at the moment, and Yekaterinburg’s chain stores are competing very confidently and professionally both within and outside the city. They are now entering Sverdlovsk Region’s other towns as well as breaking into markets outside the region,’ says Deputy Mayor of Yekaterinburg Viktor Konteev.

‘As for the prospective construction of four more Auchan hypermarkets in Yekaterinburg, I should say these French entrepreneurs can boast enormous floating capital and can therefore afford to work with minimum profit. We are fully aware of the fact that the introduction of four new hypermarkets will boost competition dramatically and will influence the future balance of power among Yekaterinburg’s chain stores,’ he notes.