Moscow, 15 May 2026 – Х5 announces the launch of the 6,000th store in its OKOLO franchise network. The milestone store, which opened in the village of Novosaratovka in the Leningrad Region, spans 80 sq m and offers over 2,000 SKUs covering all essential customer needs.
“Our franchise is in high demand among business owners in the Leningrad Region, where 312 stores are already operating under the OKOLO brand. Partners are drawn primarily by our balanced product mix, stable deliveries from X5’s distribution centres, competitive prices, payment deferrals, and a user-friendly mobile app with unique digital services. Many of our franchisees run stores with a small selling area of up to 100 sq m, and for them, choosing fast-moving SKUs is especially critical. To address their needs, we added a Smart Assortment service to our mobile app that gives franchisees tailored recommendations on the optimal assortment at their specific location,” said Igor Pletnev, Managing Director of OKOLO at X5.
The OKOLO franchise targets experienced entrepreneurs who already run a retail business. The OKOLO mobile app and the OKOLO.Market digital distribution platform follow a B2B classifieds model, enabling franchisees to order products from both X5 and from third-party sellers in one place. The platform already hosts more than 450 independent suppliers, who offer more than 35,000 products across 70 regions of Russia.
OKOLO-branded stores currently operate in 53 Russian regions: Arkhangelsk, Astrakhan, Bryansk, Chelyabinsk, Kaliningrad, Kaluga, Kemerovo, Kirov, Kurgan, Leningrad, Lipetsk, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Orenburg, Orel, Penza, Pskov, Rostov, Ryazan, Samara, Saratov, Sverdlovsk, Smolensk, Tambov, Tver, Tula, Ulyanovsk, Vladimir, Volgograd, Vologda, Voronezh, and Yaroslavl regions; the cities of Moscow and St Petersburg; Altai, Khabarovsk, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Perm, Primorye, and Trans-Baikal territories; and the republics of Adygeya, Bashkortostan, Buryatia, Chuvashia, Karelia, Mari El, Mordovia, Tatarstan, and Udmurtia. By the end of 2026, OKOLO plans to expand to 60 regions nationwide and grow its partner network to 8,000 stores.
In 2025, OKOLO was named the leader in terms of revenue among Russia’s largest FMCG franchise networks in a ranking compiled by the INFOLine analytical agency.