German retailer Metro plans to open three new stores in China by the end of 2002, Reuters reported. The new stores would be in Tianjin, Xiamen in Fujian province and Xian in Shaanxi province, and they would take the 11 total number of Metro stores in the country to 18. The company regards China as a lynchpin of its overseas expansion strategy and has said that it hopes to open eight to 10 stores a year in the country.
A separate report in Business Weekly said that Metro was planning to invest over US$600m to build at least 40 new outlets in China within the next three to five years.