Another potential rival to Aldi, Lidl and the big four supermarkets enters the UK market next month when Russian outfit Mere opens its first store on 14 August in Preston.
Mere intends to undercut Lidl and Aldi by up to 30%, reported The Grocer, with suppliers delivering directly to stores with the products sold off the pallets they come on.
Customers can expect no service with each store having a maximum of eight staff.
“On August 14, we will be glad to present our new retail model: a real hard discounter, with no shelves, no service, no convenience, just the lowest prices,” Mere UK business development manager Aleksandr Chkalov said.
The store will have a maximum of 1200 different products.
“We are now on the verge of creating a new retail segment in the UK market and we are sure it will become pricelessly useful for the country and society.”
Mere wants to open over 300 stores in the UK within the next eight to 10 years.
The store chain was founded in 2009 in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, by brothers Sergei and Andrei Schneider.