Metro still relies on small retailers

Francois Oliver, general manager of Metro Cash & Carry, thinks small stores, which are some of the leading clients of the network, will resist the offensive of hyper and supermarket chains. “I am positive that proximity will continue to be a very important criterion for the end-consumers, when it comes to choosing where to shop from,” said Oliver, adding that one of the reasons for this is the heavy traffic, which makes it harder to reach large stores, situated outside residential neighbourhoods. The Metro Cash & Carry network opened a training centre for resellers (small merchants) on Wednesday, which covers an 80 square-metre area in the Metro store in the Militari district, after having opened a similar centre for on-premise clients earlier this year.