Russia's Retailers Band Together

Life has become ever more difficult for medium-sized retailers in Russia. Put aside for a moment so-called Ma & Pa stores, as for the most part they exist on the fringes in Russia, where the small enterprise sector is harried by overzealous bureaucrats, rising rental costs and dominant power of local wholesalers. Local and regional chains have boomed since about 2000, when the current economic expansion began and wages and retail sales began to pick up in the regions. But now, with international hypermarket chains leaving the relative comfort of Moscow and St Petersburg for other regional cities and the

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