Russia’s low-priced trading network has entered Lithuania on foot

The first store is on the outskirts of Kaunas.

The Mere chain of discount stores operating in Romania and Germany has also started to develop in Lithuania.

The first store opened its doors last Monday in Kaunas, on the outskirts of the Petrašiūnai Industrial District, on T. Masiulio Street. The opening was not announced anywhere, only a message appeared on the social network Facebook.

In its format, this market is reminiscent of an outlet. A large warehouse-type room where products are stored directly on pallets or metal shelves. For perishable meat products, a refrigerated room is provided and frozen products are stored in display coolers.

Although the prices of many goods are extremely low, a fairly low range is surprising. The store manager said the product range increases daily, it should increase several times.

“We have been operating very recently, we have not been able to deliver everything. The products come and go,” said the store manager, and advised contacting the management company for further comment.

Prices here are really low, many unheard of brands. For example, 3 liters of a soft drink with sweeteners “Lili” costs 49 cents, a bedding set – 9.17 euros, towels – from 83 cents to 1.81 euros.

Half a kilo of pancakes with ham and cheese costs 1.45 euros, a kilogram of meatballs with meat costs 1.99 euros.

280 grams of “Bietite” herring fillet costs 95 cents, 1.3 kilograms of salted herring – 2.69 euros, 360 grams of squid – 1.95 euros.

A kilogram of cold-smoked “Darbininkai” sausages costs 3.85 euros, and the same amount of cooked “Breakfast” sausages – 67 cents.

200 ml of juice cost 17 cents, an additional penny would have to pay per liter of carbonated water.

The dairy and bakery shop is not yet available.

It announces 40 stores that will open in Lithuania every year.

“We are one of the largest discount stores in Russia, we represent the Svetofor brand, which unites more than 1,500 stores. We work in Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and China, and we are currently starting our activities in the European Union as the brand Mere, “writes the website mere.ws.

It appears that the information is provided here a little earlier, as it is stated that the first stores in Lithuania will open in early 2020.

Ambitious development plans are also mentioned here: 40 Mere stores will be opened this year in Lithuania.

“Currently, Mere stores operate successfully in Germany and Romania. 2020 At the beginning of the year, the first Mere stores will open in Lithuania and Poland.

Development plans include opening the Mere chain of stores in France, Spain, Italy, Greece, the Czech Republic and other countries of the European Union, ”the website said.

By not communicating with the manager of the company, the more specific development plans, into which Lithuanian cities will be entered, are unclear.

It will offer Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian and Polish products

Tatjana Lipina, CFO of Valientė, the company that opened the first low-price chain store in Kaunas, said Delfi will definitely have a broader range of products in the future.

“It is a format for low-cost stores where there is no investment in marketing, advertising or shelving. We, unlike other retail chains, will have no stock. And the goal is for people to find cheap, quality products here. We choose such store premises where we don’t have to pay a lot for rent, because we apply a minimum margin, ”said T. Lipina, financier of Valientė, the company that opened the first Mere brand store in Lithuania.

He mentioned that low prices will be guaranteed by organizing the supply chain so that the goods are transported directly from the producers, without going through the distributors.

“When opening the first store, it is still difficult to agree with the manufacturers the favorable conditions for us. At first, we are not very sure, it is said that at least one store must be opened first, and then it will be possible to negotiate,” said a representative. from Valientė.

When asked in which countries the products are sold, T. Lipina mentioned Poland, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Lithuania.

“We focus on the lowest price. Therefore, we take products from those manufacturers that offer the most optimal option,” said a representative of the company that opened the first Mere store.

There are two companies, owned by Russian citizens.

The Mere brand website claims that it is represented in Lithuania by the private limited company Litproduktai, registered in the capital, which, according to Sodra, employs 5 people.

After contacting one of the announced phones, its representatives offered to contact another company, Valient Val, owner of the Mere store, which opened in Kaunas.

Both companies were established last year and are registered at the same address. The Records Center data attests that the shareholders of both companies registered in Lithuania are Russian citizens.

These are the residents of Krasnoyarsk, the brothers Andrei and Sergei Schneider, who manage the retail chain Svetofor through the Russian company Torgservis, founded in 2009. The latter has a controlling stake in both Lithuanian companies (70% and 67%) . A. Schnaider’s share of the Lithuanian business is slightly more modest: 10 percent. and 8 percent. Share.

Valerijus Jakovlevs, another Krasnoyarsk resident, also owns shares in companies registered in Lithuania (5% each).

It is true that the composition of the shareholders in both companies is not identical. Evgenijus Pšenitsinas (20%), who lives in Krasnoyarsk, is among the owners of Litproduktai, and Valientė’s fourth shareholder is Rustamas Kiližekovas (15%), a resident of Abakan.

The first signs of development were felt last year

The plans of the owners of the Russian discount store chain Svetofor to go to the markets of European countries with the Mere brand were written on the Delfi portal in September last year, when the first store opened in Germany and two in Romania .

The recruitment company HR Business Alliance, based in Belarus, announced the search for specialists to help select stores in various cities in Lithuania and Poland, which the owners of the retail chain Svetofor plan to expand in the country. As Komersant wrote at the time, experts doubted whether the retailer could win the trust of consumers in the Baltic region without redesigning its business model and improving the quality of its range.

Silent entry to Lithuania is no exception. This is how Mere entered Germany in 2019. March. He wrote to Dw.com, and the owners of the holding company, Torgservis, describe themselves as avoiding media attention and not investing heavily in marketing.

A company spokesman at the time, DW, said: “We are not interested in advertising, we have not invited the press, we wanted to start as quietly as possible.”

Later, the German newspaper wrote that less than a week after the opening of the first Mere store, it had to close 2 days later, as all stocks ran out. But after a few months, the situation changed.

“It just came to our attention then. Some clients never returned, others became regular,” wrote DW.