Metro Cash & Carry has opened a new store in an underpass at the Kurskaya metro station in Moscow under the brand name Bean Express. The estimated cost of opening a single point of Metro Cash & Carry is RUB 3m, though no official figure was given. The opening is a pilot project in a program intended to improve a lack of places to buy food in the center of Moscow. Auchan is also interested in opening store in the underground passages and has a location for a trial store on the Garden Ring near the Smolenskaya metro station. It should open before the end of the year. The small format is a new one for Auchan in Russia, though it does operate the A2pas format in France (which are usually at least twice the size). The Moscow Metro has selected the 96 busiest underground passages to be fitted with new market stalls, reported Deputy Mayor Maxim Liksutov. JLL estimates that such units could expect to earn up to $3,000 per sqm.
