S.Korea's CU opens first store in Kazakhstan

South Korea's BGF Retail, the operator of the leading domestic convenience store chain CU, announced on Thursday that it opened its first store in Kazakhstan on the previous day.

The company’s new store CU Astana Square is located in Almaty, Kazakhstan's largest city.

CU Astana Square store is located at Tole bi, a central street in Almaty known for its high foot traffic among young people, due to the presence of universities, and various kinds of offices.

In June last year, BGF Retail signed a master franchise agreement with CU Central Asia, a new convenience store corporation established by local Kazakh company Shin-Line.

The master franchise agreement allows BGF Retail to grant its local partner, CU Central Asia, the rights to use its brand, open stores, and manage business operations, in exchange for royalty payments.

Shin-Line, the largest ice cream manufacturer in Central Asia with a 40% market share, has been expanding its businesses related to convenience stores, such as manufacturing ramen and dairy products.

BGF Retail plans to open two more stores in Almaty this month.

The second store in Kazakhstan will be located in another key commercial area of Almaty, while the third store will be near universities and a subway station.

By the end of this year, BGF Retail aims to have 50 stores in Kazakhstan and plans to expand further into neighboring countries. It will open more than 500 stores over the next five years.

Write to Sun-A Lee at suna@hankyung.com