Russian chain VkusVill opens first foreign store in Amsterdam

Russian food retailer VkusVill has started looking abroad to continue its fast growth. The chain has opened its first store outside of Russia in Amsterdam.

Healthy and local

VkusVill says its aim is to offer as many freash and healthy food products as possible. The Amsterdam store offers 150 local products, including cheese, dried fruits, fish, fruit and vegetables, juices, snacks and yogurt.

Founder Andreï Krivenko says he chose Amsterdam for his first foreign store because that was the first place where he found a team that shared his chain’s values and concept. He considers the Amsterdam store a test-case to see if VkusVill’s rapid success (growing from 0 to 1200 stores in ten years) can be repeated in Western Europe.

In an earlier interview, Krivenko said he wants to expand to France and China as well. Despite calling it an interesting market, the chain currently has no concrete plans for Belgium.