The Billa supermarket chain will be opening 12 new stores this year in the Czech Republic and reconstructing another 42 of its existing ones. Director Jaroslaw Szczypka says that including stores that are connected with Shell petrol stations, its current network runs to 200 outlets, the biggest of which will be a 2,000 sqm unit in Zlin which is scheduled to open in July. Roughly 78 percent of the company’s turnover is made up of Czech-produced items, he said, while the company has its own line of products that makes up 17.5 percent of its turnover. Billa plans to increase this figure to 30 percent over the next five years. Billa’s turnover exceeded CZK 25bn last year.
