Metro closes Shanghai HoReCa store

German self-service wholesale retailer Metro Cash & Carry has closed its only HoReCa (hotel, restaurants and canteens) format store in Shanghai because the store was unable to meet targeted customers' needs.

The store, covering 2,100 square meters, opened in October 2010 to serve professional customers from hotels, restaurants and canteens.

More than 90 percent of its items were food and 45 percent of its products were fresh food. The company said the store would allow it get closer to core customers.

"The management of Metro C&C China has decided to pull out of the Metro for HoReCa format which was opened in Shanghai in Oct 2010 as a trial to be physically closer to HoReCa customers. Our experience from the trial in the past two years is that proximity for HoReCa does not mean the same as for private consumers, for chefs this means speed and quality of delivery," said Metro China in a statement.

Metro said the store closure should not be seen as a change in Metro China's expansion strategy in the long term.

Metro China plans to open at least 12 new stores around China in 2013, following equally fast expansion the year before.