Wal-Mart Opens its First Store in Wuxi

Sep 28, 2006

Sep. 28th, 2006, Wuxi, – Today, Wal-Mart opened its first store in Wuxi city, Jiangsu Province – the Wal-Mart Hongxing Road Store. Located on the Sunshine City Square on Hongxing Road, the new Wal-Mart Supercenter has a floor area of about 20,000 square meters. It offers nearly 20,000 merchandises, including fresh foods, apparels, household electrical appliances, etc. It also has special service areas featuring optical and jewelry services. As a return to customers’ support, Wal-Mart Wuxi store offered great value merchandise and provided a series of retailtainment events during the opening.

Various government organizations in Wuxi have given their tremendous support for the opening of the Supercenter. Local officials welcome Wal-Mart’s investment in Wuxi city and expect that Wal-Mart will bring along advanced retail expertise and promote the development of circulation and manufacture industry.

Stanley Yu, COO of Wal-Mart (China) Investment Co., Ltd., said that Wal-Mart has become a favorite destination of more and more shoppers thanks to its good customer service, high quality merchandise and every day low prices. The Hongxing Road store is the 65th store Wal-Mart has opened in China and the first one in Wuxi City. Wal-Mart is confident that it will be well received by Wuxi residents and will contribute to Wuxi’s economy.

Wal-Mart has three basic beliefs – Respect for the Individual, Service to the Customer, and Strive for Excellence. The Company strives to provide customers with high quality merchandise at low prices and good service. Wal-Mart’s direct procurement from China is about US$ 9 billion per year, and the indirect is also estimated at over US$ 9 billion, making tremendous contribution to China’s economy and foreign trade. Wal-Mart also actively contributes to various charitable programs. Since entering the Chinese market in 1996, Wal-Mart has donated over RMB 23 million to various charitable organizations. By October 2006 Wal-Mart employs more than 33,000 associates in China with a total investment of RMB1.7 billion. Wal-Mart has also paid taxes of over RMB 1.5 billion.

In 2005, Wal-Mart accomplished USD312.4 billion sales globally. It ranked first on the FORTUNE 500 list for four consecutive years, and made FORTUNE magazine’s list of “Most Admired Companies in America” for two years in a row. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart was named one of the “Most Respected Companies” and the “Best Companies to Work For” in many other countries. In November 2005 Wal-Mart China was once again selected for the “2005 Top 10 Best Companies to Work For” award by FORTUNE China.

About Wal-Mart China
Wal-Mart China opened its first Supercenter and SAM’S CLUB in August 1996 in Shenzhen and now operates 65 outlets including Supercenters, SAM’S CLUBs, and Neighborhood Markets in 33 cities with over 33,000 associates. Wal-Mart has brought along advanced management expertise to China’s retail industry and provided local customers with good merchandise and services during 10 years’ serving in China. For more information about Wal-Mart China, please visit www.wal-martchina.com.