Metro to supplement Media Markt with Saturn chain

Over the next three years German retail group Metro will open 12 white-goods stores across the country under the brand name of Saturn at a cost of EUR 24 million. They will be located in the center of large cities or shopping malls, and will have an area of up to 10,000 square meters. "At the beginning of 2004, Media-Saturn Holding Polska will be created and it will coordinate the development of both brands [Saturn and Media Markt]. This does not mean that Media Markt is planning to quit Poland," said Jarosław Drabarek, general director of Media Markt. The German holding plans to open three to five stores of the new chain in 2004, each at a cost of EUR 1.6 million. According to analysts, the white goods sector is still an interesting market. "There is strong demand for these kinds of products and the market is not yet saturated. I believe that after Saturn is launched it might soon be followed by the appearance of the British Dixons chain," said Michał Gierbisz from GFK Polonia. (Puls Biznesu, p. 6) M.M.