James Brooke, UBN

🔵 IKEA opens its first bricks and mortar store in Ukraine today and will be the first in SE Europe new ‘city format’ – 5,000 square meters, instead of the usual 30,000 square meters. Last May, IKEA started an internet store and was immediately overwhelmed.

🔵 French sportswear brand Decathlon opens this spring its third store in two years in Kyiv. With the new store, Decathlon will have 8,500 square meters of retail space in Kyiv

🔵 Last Monday, the first day after the January lockdown, about 300,000 shoppers visited Epicenter shopping centers around Ukraine – up 50% yoy

🔵 Despite the harsh spring lockdown, Foxtrot achieved a 20% growth in sales of its retail electronics last year. On line sales grew strongly. Sales through all channels registered this growth: smartphones +14%; TVs +28%; computer equipment +67%; and laptops +80%.

🔵 Marriott International expects to open its first Sheraton in Ukraine by the end of this year. Delayed for a decade, the hotel project received new impetus last fall when the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation approved a $27 million loan for completing the hotel.

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