Crisis fails to halt Ukraine expansion plans of foreign retail, wholesale giants.

France’s Auchan on Nov. 17 opened a new supermarket at 2 General Vatunin Street (above), its second in Kyiv and fifth in Ukraine since opening its first venue in Ukraine’s capital in March 2008. Auchan’s newest entry is located at Kyiv’s SKY MALL. Auchan also operates supermarkets in Donetsk, Kryvy Rih and Zaporizhya. Auchan’s new store marks the continued expansion of foreign retail and wholesale giants, including Germany’s Metro Group and Austria’s Billa. On Nov. 5, Billa opened doors to a new grocery in downtown Kyiv at the famous Bessarabsky market. Billa is one of the first Western supermarket chains to enter Ukraine. It opened its first store in Kyiv in 2000. The group has, since last year, swiftly expanded its chain of Ukrainian supermarkets from 10 to 17, and plans to launch two more this year – one each in Odesa and Kherson. Metro Group claims to have invested 460 million euros since 2003 into building a 25-store chain of wholesale centers in Ukraine. The group’s retail arm opened a Real brand supermarket in Odessa last month, its first in Ukraine thus far. (Oleksiy Boyko).