Moscow, 25 September 2025 – X5 Group (MOEX: X5), a leading Russian food retailer, announces the opening of a proprietary distribution centre for its Okolo franchise to serve customers in Moscow and the Moscow Region. The new logistics hub is located in the Uspensky industrial park in the Noginsk District of the Moscow Region. The 5,340 sq m facility will feature a core assortment of Okolo’s 1,700 SKUs, covering the primary needs of the convenience store format.
“The Okolo franchise currently operates through a network of 23 distribution centres, 14 of which are managed by our regional master franchisee partners. This new hub will directly serve Okolo stores across the Moscow metropolitan area, including Moscow and the Moscow Region, as well as the Smolensk, Tver, Yaroslavl, Vladimir, Ryazan, Tula and Kaluga regions. We are seeing significant interest from independent retailers in the Okolo franchise within this area. Our Central Division is already home to 727 Okolo-branded stores, and we plan to increase this number to 1,000 by the end of the year. The transition to target logistics processes, made possible by the opening this new distribution centre, will enable us to lower wholesale prices and enhance our service level considerably,” commented Igor Pletnev, Managing Director of Okolo.
Through its Okolo project, X5 is developing a technology platform for small businesses in the food production and retail sector. The platform integrates local producers, X5’s own supply chain and third-party logistics infrastructure through the OKOLO.Market B2B network. The Okolo franchise offers independent stores the technology, competitive pricing and expertise of Russia’s largest retailer to improve their economic performance. In turn, producers gain a unique digital channel for sales and product promotion.
Currently, some 3,177 stores operate under the Okolo brand across 46 Russian regions.