X5 Retail Group Opens Three Pyaterochka Stores In Tomsk

Russian retailer X5 Retail Group is further expanding into Siberia with the opening of its first three Pyaterochka stores in the city of Tomsk.

The stores have a total area of about 1,700 square metres and are fully in line with the retail group’s Pyaterochka proximity store concept, according to the retailer.

The stores will add 40 jobs to the city, and by the end of the year, the retailer plans to increase its store count to 20 in the region, thus ramping up local employee numbers to over 300.

For more details on X5's expansion across Russia, see ESM's recent A-Z of Retail: X is for X5.

The store will source 20% of its product mix from local Tomsk producers, having already entered into agreement with 17 suppliers from the region. A number of X5’s local partners will also have the chance to supply their goods to neighbouring regions.

Producers whose products are already available in the new Pyaterochka stores include: Mezheninovka Poultry Farm, Tomsky Pig Farm, Derevenskoe Molochko, Tomskoye Moloko and Bakery Plant #4, according to X5.

Last year, Pyaterochka added goods from 91 suppliers from a variety of Siberian regions to its product mix, the retailer said.

Siberian Expansion

Pyaterochka began operating in the Siberian Federal District in August 2016 when it opened its first stores in Novosibirsk. As of 31 December 2017, a total of 270 stores were up and running in the Novosibirsk, Kemerovo and Omsk regions, and in the Altai territory.

X5 also opened a distribution centre in Novosibirsk in September 2017, which brought a new impetus to the company’s development n Siberia, according to the retailer.

The retail group recently opened its 12,500th store and recorded annual sales of RUB 1,286.87 billion last year. While most of the company’s growth came from the western regions of Russia, Siberia and the Ural region comprised a combined 15%.