Sweden's 16th K-rauta opens in Umeå

K-rauta Umeå opened at Lagervägen 5, Klockarbäcken in Northern Sweden on 1 March. The store employs 45 people and the store manager is Tommy Rosbäck. The over 9,000 square metre outlet carries a total selection of over 18,000 articles of house technology, gardening, building supplies, tools and interior decoration.

"DIY is an ongoing trend and particularly in the north, the trend is upward. Therefore we're very happy to be able to open the third K-rauta in the north of Sweden here in Umeå," says Managing Director Jani Jylhä.

K-rauta Umeå is the first of the five K-rauta stores to be opened in Sweden in 2007-2008. According to Industrifakta's survey, Swedish consumers will buy DIY products annually for a total value of about 24 billion kronas during the next couple of years.

"K-rauta Umeå is an important new complement to our network. It will enable us to better serve both consumer and professional customers. Rautakesko is intensively seeking to expand the network in Sweden and more new K-rauta stores are expected to open in the near future", says Region Director Jarmo Turunen.

The construction project was managed by a Kesko real estate company, KR Fastigheter i Umeå AB, the architectural designer was Hidemark & Stintzing Arkitekter AB, the building supervisor HydraCon Sverige AB and the principal constructor Fastec.

The K-rauta chain comprises 40 stores in Finland, 16 in Sweden, five in Latvia and seven in St. Petersburg, Russia. In addition, Rautakesko operates in Norway, Estonia and Lithuania.

Further information:
Managing Director Jani Jylhä, K-rauta AB, tel. +46 70 431 6960
Region Director Jarmo Turunen, Rautakesko Ltd, tel. +358 50 328 3498

Kesko is a retail specialist whose stores offer quality to the daily lives of consumers through valued products and services at competitive prices. Kesko operates in the Nordic and Baltic countries and Russia.

Rautakesko Ltd (www.rautakesko.com) is a division parent company of Kesko Corporation and the market leader in the Finnish hardware and builders' supplies sector. Rautakesko's

share of the hardware and builders' supplies trade is about 35%. Rautakesko develops the K-rauta and Rautia chains and is responsible for their marketing, purchasing and logistics services, store network and retailer resources. Rautakesko operates in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia.