First "Super-Willys" opens in Stockholm

First "Super-Willys" opens in Stockholm Willys has further developed its store concept and will be opening Sweden's largest Willys store on Thursday, 22 April, in Rissne. "Super-Willys," as this new, large-store concept is called, has a broader product offering including specialty items like electronics, textiles and toys. Willys' business concept, Sweden's lowest grocery prices, has been extended to the price profile of these new product categories as well. The trend in the retail food market is moving towards one-stop shopping. "Super-Willys" is an effort to meet this demand in the discount segment. By providing access to attractively priced electronics, textiles, toys, etc., Willys aims to create a practical and convenient discount store where shoppers can find just about any household item. The Rissne "Super-Willys" is the first of 10-15 "Super-Willys" stores that are planned for the coming three years. A target in 2004 is to open 2-3 "Super-Willys" stores. "'Super-Willys' is the start of the natural development of an already very successful store concept," says Anders Strålman, President of Willys AB. The Rissne store is located in the former Toyota car dealership on Madenvägen, adjacent to E18. Björn Johansson, previously head of the Willys store in Veddesta, will be the store's manager. Willys stores are discount supermarkets with a wide product offering. The stores have a range of approximately 7,000 items, covering 95% of consumers' annual grocery needs. Willys has a particularly strong focus on fresh products, such as fruits, vegetables, meats, and dairy products. Willys' goal is to increase the number of stores in Stockholm. With the new "Super-Willys" store in Rissne, Willys is getting close to central Stockholm and will have 14 stores in the Greater Stockholm area. The Willys chain has 87 stores throughout Sweden. The goal is to have established a Willys chain by 2005 consisting of 100 stores with sales of SEK 12 billion. The Axfood Group also operates 44 stores under the Willys hemma name, which is Axfood's chain of small discount stores. For further information, please contact: Anders Strålman, President, Willys AB, tel. +46-708-37 88 37 Björn Johansson, Store Manager, "Super-Willys," tel. +46-705-31 18 50 Kenneth Wall, Communications Manager, Axfood AB, tel. +46-703-124 122 Additional information: www.axfood.se and www.willys.se Willys AB's business concept is to have Sweden's lowest grocery prices. The chain comprises over 80 wholly owned stores, with annual sales of approximately SEK 10.5 billion. Willys AB is thus Sweden's market-leading discount food retailer. Willys is part of Axfood AB, a retail food group comprising the wholly owned store chains Hemköp, Willys and Willys hemma and wholesale operations through Dagab and Axfood Närlivs. Additionally, Axfood works with a large number of independent merchants who are tied to Axfood by franchising or other agreements. In all the Group comprises some 500 stores in Sweden, of which about 220 are wholly or partly owned. Consolidated annual sales are approximately SEK 33 billion, with approximately 8,600 employees. Axfood has approximately 290 stores in Finland, of which 80 are wholly owned and the remainder are operated by independent merchants. Axfood has a market share of 18% in Sweden and approximately 8% in Finland, making it one of the largest, listed retail food groups in the Nordic region. The company is listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange 0-List, Attract 40. Axel Johnson AB is the principal owner with approximately 45% of the shares. ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2004/04/21/20040421BIT20180/wkr0006.pdf Superwillys