Wal-Mart may open a store in St. Petersburg next year, a city official announced. "I have such information, but I'm not ready to talk more in detail about the opening of Wal-Mart," the Chairman of St. Petersburg's economic development committee, Vladimir Blank, was quoted as saying. Wal-Mart is already recruiting staff through local employment agencies, an unidentified source told Interfax. The store will cover 20,000 square meters and probably be located on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, the source said. "I can't comment one way or the other," said Wal-Mart spokesman Bill Wertz, when asked to confirm the report.

"We have said in the past ... that we are interested in Russia specifically. We've had a team in Russia looking at possibilities, but have made no announcements about our intentions," Wertz said by telephone from company headquarters. When representatives of Wal-Mart came to Moscow in April, they made a splash without even making any commitments. Last year, the company generated $256 billion in revenues, or almost three times as much revenue collected by the Russian government in the same time.

NamNews - Tuesday 21st September 2004

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