Discount Retail Chain Mere (owned by the Russian Schneider family) deploys to Spain and prepares for France. Mere is the translation of "mother", the Russian hard-discounter who seeks to establish himself in France. It will be in Pont-Sainte-Marie (10150), Sainte-Marguerite (88100) and Thionville (57100). On its website, the Russian distribution group Svetofor indeed announces three openings in France in October 2021 at the Mere brand. "The territory of the Grand Est region is chosen to start the development of the network", we can read. But the company says "plans to open stores in all major cities in France and establish links with suppliers across Europe."
It should be remembered that this brand is looking for unclaimed sites of 700 to 800 m² with, ultimately, somewhat the same expansion strategy as Noz, for example. By finding fallow land, they are thus in a strong position to negotiate their rents. It is quite similar to the first settlements of Lidl and Aldi in the 1980s with pauperized surfaces. They are not building stores from scratch. They recover existing surfaces.
See here for more: https://www.lsa-conso.fr/le-hard-discounter-russe-mere-va-ouvrir-trois-magasins-en-france-en-octobre,389398?preview=11
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