METRO opens 750th worldwide store in Chongqing

A Metro outlet in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. [File photo / Provided to China Daily]

METRO Cash & Carry opened its 750th wholesale market worldwide in Chongqing, a municipality of more than 30 million residents, on Wednesday.

"METRO remains committed to the Chinese market and aims to retain the recent expansion momentum in the long term," said Jeroen de Groot, Managing Director of Metro Cash & Carry China.

METRO has accelerated its pace of expansion in China in recent years. In 2012, 12 wholesale stores were opened across the country, setting a company record for openings in a single country over a calendar year.

METRO has opened nine new outlets in 2013, pushing up its store numbers in China to 72, making China the third biggest market by store numbers, on par with Russia, after Germany and France.

Ahead of its 50th anniversary in 2014, the German wholesaler aims to further extend its network that is already present in 29 countries serving more than 20 million customers.

METRO Cash & Carry China had focused on expansion in first-tier and coastal cities. But it now attaches more importance to central as well as second-and-third-tier cities in China, and boosting support to independent small business owners, said de Groot.