Intersport opens a new concept sports store in St. Petersburg

30 december 2013 INTERSPORT FINLAND LTD PRESS RELEASE 30.12.2013 AT 10.00 1(1) Intersport has opened a new Sport to the People concept store at the Grand Canyon shopping centre in St. Petersburg. Intersport will refurbish its stores in Russia in the new concept format. In 2013, the stores in the Rumba and Zanevsky Kaskad shopping centres in St. Petersburg and the store in the Prinz Plaza shopping centre in Moscow were refurbished. "Our newest store is located in the Sport Zone area of the Grand Canyon shopping centre in St. Petersburg, which also accommodates, for example, adidas, Nike and Salomon. Illustrative of the Russian scale is the fact that the shopping centre has 10 million visitors annually," says Christoffer Jansén, Intersport Finland's Project Director for Russian operations. The Sport to the People store concept concentrates on customer service and wide selections in particular. The stores present sports categories with all products related to, for example, running, skiing or fitness grouped together. The stores will have less fittings and the customer route will be altered. Environmental friendliness is taken into account in the stores by using LED lighting, for example. There are 21 Intersport stores in Russia, located at shopping centres mainly in the St. Petersburg and Moscow regions. The objective is to triple the Russian store site network by the end of 2016. The Intersport licence for Russia and related operations were transferred to the Kesko subsidiary in August 2011. In addition to Finland, Kesko seeks growth especially in the Russian market, where growth is faster compared to the Nordic and Baltic countries. Besides the 21 Intersport stores, Kesko has four K-ruoka stores and 14 K-rauta stores in Russia. Konekesko markets construction, materials management and environmental machinery in St. Petersburg through its own dealer network. Further information: Project Director Christoffer Jansén, Intersport Finland, Russian operations, tel. +358 105 340 095 Kesko Kesko (www.kesko.fi) is one of the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World. We are a retail specialist whose chains have about 2,000 stores in the Nordic and Baltic countries, Russia, and Belarus. Our stores offer quality to the daily lives of customers. INTERSPORT Intersport International IIC, established in 1968, is an international sports marketing chain that consists of national companies. Intersport's headquarters are located in Bern, Switzerland. There are over 5,200 Intersport stores in 41 countries, including China and Australia. Currently, there are 63 Intersport stores in Finland. Intersport stores offer consumers the best service in the area and number one brands in the sports trade. Intersport stores provide the right kind of equipment and outfits for athletes and amateurs alike. Kesko also has the Intersport licence for Russia where it currently has 21 Intersport stores. www.intersport.fi This announcement is distributed by GlobeNewswire on behalf of GlobeNewswire clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that: (i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and (ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein. Source: Kesko Oyj via GlobeNewswire [HUG#1752162]