The shoe manufacturing company Ecco that is currently working on the introduction of a chain store network in Russia is planning on expanding its retail sales.

Ecco Russia Development Department’s Director Dmitry Chuikov says the company will probably set up ten new stores in cities whose population comes to at least one million people and in the neighboring towns next year. This means that in 2011, the new mono-brand shops could open in Novosibirsk, Chelyabinsk, Ufa, and Tyumen, among others. Ecco is going to focus on the stores located within large shopping malls.

According to Molly.ru, a web portal, Ecco operates 103 own stores and about 130 franchise stores (as of December 1, 2010).