Wal-Mart to open 1st Shanghai outlet
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-07-15 15:27

The world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, plans to open its first store in China's biggest city, Shanghai, at the end of this month, the company said Friday.

Wal-Mart already operates 47 stores employing 20,000 people in China, and has its headquarters in the southern commercial center of Shenzhen.

But the US retailer is a relative latecomer to Shanghai, where French rival Carrefour SA already operates eight of its giant stores and Germany's Metro AG is also well established.

The 18,000 square meter (193,750 square foot) outlet in the western district of Pudong is one of three Wal-Mart stores planned for Shanghai, home to about 20 million people, among them many of China's wealthiest consumers, the Shanghai Daily reported.

"We aim to ensure the success of our first store in Shanghai and to see the market response," Hu Minghua, said a manager with the company.

A company spokesman, speaking to Dow Jones Newswires on condition of anonymity, confirmed the store's July 28 opening date, but refused to give additional details.

Shanghai Daily said local retailers have been preparing for the giant's arrival by renovating their stores and revamping their product lines.

Others were looking to pick up management tips from Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc, which has more than 4,300 outlets in nine countries employing more than 1.3 million people.

Wal-Mart's entry into the Shanghai market will "change the commercial mood in the area's vicinity," said Wang Liang, director of the Commercial Circulation Institute.

Shanghai's retail sector is heating up this year, with 28 new "hypermarkets," giant stores that offer merchandise found in both supermarkets and department stores, due to join the 97 already in operation, the Shanghai Daily said.

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