'Russian Lidl' Mere announces opening date for first UK store - 'a real hard discounter'
SERBIAN supermarket chain Mere, dubbed as the "Russian Lidl", has announced the opening date for its first UK store. The shop will open its door to British consumers next month.
Lidl GB release ‘Big on Quality for all’ advert
Svetofor is a Russian discount supermarket that has 3,200 stores worldwide. The company expanded to Europe in 2018, operating under the name Mere. Next month will be the first time for it to open a supermarket in the UK.
READ MORE
- Gardeners’ World shares ‘easy’ hack to deter slugs from eating plants
Mere is a budget supermarket claiming to be 30 percent cheaper than the UK’s most affordable supermarkets, such as Aldi and Lidl.
When the chain first announced its UK openings earlier this year, in May, it stated that its first store will be launching at a former Nisa branch in Preston, Lancashire.
Now, the supermarket has unveiled when this shop will be open to the public.
Mere’s first UK store will open on Saturday, August 14, and 300 more stores could follow in the next eight to 10 years.
READ MORE: ‘Looks great!’ Mrs Hinch fans share 79p ‘five-minute’ hack for taps
Next month will start Mere’s journey to becoming the UK’s cheapest supermarket.
Aleksandr Chkalov, Mere UK Business Development Manager, told The Grocer: “On 14 August we will be glad to present our new retail model: a real hard discounter, with no shelves, no service, no convenience, just the lowest prices.”
The chain has confirmed plans for four other stores this year, located in Wales and Yorkshire.
A second store is expected to open in September in Caldicot, south Wales.
DON'T MISS:
Pensioner pays £825k for luxury home but 'nothing can grow' in garden [INSIGHT]
David Domoney shares natural methods to get rid of weeds [UPDATE]
How to get rid of ragwort - five top tips to maintaining your garden [ANALYSIS]
Shops in Mold, North Wales, and Castleford, West Yorkshire, will open later this year.
The company had originally planned to open its first store in June, but this was pushed back until next month.
However, the supermarket started to receive its stock at its Preston branch earlier this month.
At the time, Pavels Antonovs, Head of Buying at Mere UK, said: “We have started taking deliveries at the Preston store.”
Earlier this year, Mr Anonovs described the chain’s ethos, saying: “We are the gap in the market. We don’t have any competitors.
“Our model is no serving and no marketing.
“Some will understand us, some won’t.
“There are already 30 businesses that will fill 70 percent of our shops.”
Each store in the UK will be around 10,000 sq ft, including a walk-in chiller room and a huge freezer to allow multi-temperature ranges to be sold from the pallet they arrive on.
Stores will also only have eight members of staff, a further effort to keep costs low.
Although Mere has said it wants to open a further 300 shops in the UK in the future, the locations have not yet been confirmed.
However, the company has unveiled a potential list of spots it is considering setting up shop, such as Sheffield, Oswestry, Middlesborough, and more.
As well as the UK, it plans to soon expand in Italy, Spain, Greece, and Bulgaria.
Some of the items expected to be available at the Preston branch when it opens next month will include instant noodles, tinned mackerel, toiletries, batteries, and energy drinks.
It is, however, not yet known how much these products will cost.
Full list of potential future Mere locations
Cardiff
Banbury
Barnsley
Beckenham
Bradford
Devon
Exeter
Gloucester
Grantham
Kettering
Middlesborough
Neath
Northampton
Oswestry
Plymouth
Selby
Sheffield
Southampton
Stretford
Southern Scotland
Wales