Wal-Mart to open first U.K. superstore
By Ivar Simensen, CBS MarketWatch
Last Update: 11:58 AM ET Apr 23, 2000 NewsWatch
LONDON (CBS.MW) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is opening the first store under its own name in Britain next month, according to a report in the U.K.'s Sunday Times.
The world's biggest retailer took over Asda, the British grocer, last July and has so far acted under the name most familiar to U.K. shoppers. But in a months time the mask is falling, and the first giant Wal-Mart (WMT: news, msgs) store opens in Bristol, South England. Three stores are planned before the end of the year, and ten more will have opened within one year.
The store will resemble more closely the American stores, with a greater variety of nonfood products. Today the average Asda store is split 70 percent food and 30 percent nonfood. In the Bristol site, half of the 90,000-square-foot area will be dedicated to beauty products, electrical goods and other products.
"The aim is to satisfy local needs in one store. Through the range we are developing we will aim to satisfy most shoppers' needs," Gary Parker, Wal-Mart's U.K. stores director told the Sunday Times.
With the new name and profile, Wal-Mart also aims to make life harder for health products stores such as Boots (BOOOY: news, msgs) and Superdrug, music and bookseller WH Smith. Earlier in April, the investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston advised to sell shares of Boots, mainly because Wal-Mart was set to enter the market, the Sunday Times said. |
