23 September, Minsk /BELTA correspondent/. SOOO "Belvest" (Vitebsk) will increase the number of its stores in Russia to 150 by the end of the year, the company informed a BELTA correspondent. Currently, 127 SOOO "Belvest" stores operate in Russia. Actively developing its branded retail chain, the Vitebsk footwear company opened 15 new stores in Russia in September of this year. In total, 55 SOOO "Belvest" stores have been established in Russia since the beginning of the year. "We are entering new Russian regions – the Urals, the Volga region, and Southern Russia. New stores have started operating in Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Volgograd, Astrakhan, Krasnodar, Rostov-on-Don, and Stavropol," the company reported. Since the beginning of this year, footwear sales in the SOOO "Belvest" branded network in Russia have increased by 173% compared to 2010. In Belarus, the company's retail network is represented by 30 stores in various cities across the country. A fourth SOOO "Belvest" store will open in Minsk for the winter season. The Vitebsk enterprise "Belvest" was established in 1988 with the participation of the German company Salamander. Since the end of 2002, "Belvest" has been a Belarusian-Russian enterprise. It produces footwear made of genuine leather for men and women, and in recent years, collections of dressy and casual sports footwear have been significantly expanded. Since its foundation, the company has produced over 37 million pairs of leather footwear. As of today, its production capacity is over 2 million pairs. Twice a year, "Belvest" renews more than half of its product range. Approximately 50% of its output is sold abroad. The enterprise is part of the "Bellegprom" concern. -0-

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