A Russian supermarket that claims to be cheaper than Aldi and Lidl is coming to the UK.
Aldi and Lidl are loved by Brits for super affordable groceries and incredible Specialbuys - like Aldi's sell-out garden furniture and Lidl's anxiety busting weighted blanket.
Mere, which is owned by Svetofor in Siberia, operates on a "no service, no marketing" policy, allowing them to offer great deals for shoppers, with prices that are said to be 30% cheaper than iconic bargain stores Aldi and Lidl.
The company plans to launch four store locations across the UK, the first of which will be in Preston, reportedly on the site of a former Nisa.
While exact dates for the Mere openings are yet to be announced, it is expected that they will open in June of this year.
Mold in North Wales, Caldicot in South Wales, and Castleford in West Yorkshire will be the locations for the first experimental stores - and we hope to see them spread across the nation.
Mere supermarkets reportedly feature warehouse-style no-frills aisles with 1,200 products and just eight employees in each store.
Mere currently has locations in several European countries and the budget store is looking to expand into more British cities such as Southern Scotland, Devon, Cardiff, Banbury, Selby, Bradford, Grantham, Sheffield, Southampton, Stockport, Kettering, and Neath.
Mere UK's Head of Buying, Pavels Antonovs, spoke with The Grocer, saying, "We are the gap in the market. We don’t have any competitors.
"Our model is no service and no marketing. Some will understand us, some won’t. There are already around 30 businesses that will 70% fill our shops."
Pavels continued, "I have just now met with a manufacturer with a turnover of £150million and we signed for eight SKUs.
"On March 13, we opened a store in Latvia and the queue outside was 570 people."
