A shopper’s delight
Makro, a thorn in supermarkets’ side, a nightmare for commerciual ussers, an onslaught against the oh-so-ever-increasing prices, now has a rival. With the opening of a new wholesale center METRO cash & carry Pakistan on Multan Road, Lahore near Thokar Niaz Beg, today. 
The groundbreaking ceremony for the location took place on April 4th 2007 in presence of the Chief Minister of the Punjab, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and Lahore City District Nazim, Mian Amer Mahmood. With an investment of €15 million, the company plans to open wholesale centers in all major cities of the country. These cities include Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Hyderabad. Offering a wholesale price that leaves the customer room for healthy margins and provide a one-stop-shop for the customer, hopefully.
The presence of both Makro and now METRO, the global rivals, might strongly urge the supermarkets to reconsider their prices.
It’s exciting to see these global giants actually entering the Pakistani market and giving our consumers a choice to spend less and buy more :)
Carrefour is on its way too! ;)
Yup , i am just waiting to go there and see for myself. some say i can experience the Wal Mart experience :P i wish if thats true
I thought it was for commercial customers only. They are not going to sell stuff to retail consumers. You are supposed to have a membership card and a business to buy at METRO. Correct me if i am wrong.
Mubarak ho :P
@ Aaiz: Yeap you are on the dot. The global activities for both stores are that they cater only businesses and not the individuals. Makro deviated from the concept in Pakistan to gain market. But metro is sticking to it. Waisey I think that they are late entrants. Makro at the moment dont think Metro a rival. Its more concerned to the akbari mandi etc then metro
dnt worry carefour is opening up at fortress nxt year and ikea is also on its way
I was there on the very first day and did full justice to my journalistic instinct by capturing each corner in more than a 100 snaps :|
Multiple posts on their way soon… :)
There are some concerns from the other side of the coin too:
+ This indicates a rise in consumerism within the society, which should not be confused with prosperity or development.
+ The “Walmart phenomenon” actually is really not good for Pakistani economy in the long run for many reasons. While it may appear to give the consumers a lower cost alternative to make bulk purchases — they really do not work for our large lower middle class market base due to cash-flow issues. That is, an average lower-middle-class family does not have that kind of cashflow to purchase these items in bulk. Unless they pick up another much more dangerous and insidious tool of consumer oriented capitalistic economies — credit (as in credit cards).
+ It would be interesting to see how they fair in the long run once the initial “Industrial Exhibition”-like euphoria of these large warehouses dies out.
+ Do realize that they have not proven to be a good phenomenon for the economy in general. These warehouse stores have been known to kill the local small retail shop businesses, the real bread and butter of the economy. While the H Karim Buksh, et. al. may not be effected because they cater to an entirely different market segment.
+ Also note these warehouse stores will really be acting out as just another channel for the large Chinese and Indian manufacturing base, mainly because Pakistan’s own industrial and manufacturing base for consumer products is really unsubstantial and inconsequential both in quality and quantity.
+ It is troubling to see our society rapidly evolving into a consumer based society, with very insignificant value-added manufacturing base.