MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/. Detsky Mir, Russia’s largest specialized children’s goods retailer, plans to enter the Kyrgyz market in 2020, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

"As part of its geographical expansion strategy, the company decided to enter the market of Kyrgyzstan. Detsky Mir's goal is to open the first store in Kyrgyzstan in the next year and become a leader in the mid-term," the statement said.

"This year we successfully entered the Belarusian market, having already opened eight Detmir stores in the largest shopping malls of Minsk, Brest, Gomel, Molodechno and Mogilev. The performance of the Belarusian retail chain turned out to be higher than our planned indicators, and we expect to reach EBITDA break-even this year. At the same time, Detsky Mir in Kazakhstan continues to develop rapidly, demonstrating LFL sales growth of over 34%. On the back of these high results, we decided to continue the geographical expansion to the CIS countries," Detsky Mir Chief Executive Officer Vladimir Chirakhov was quoted as saying.

The company considers the Kyrgyz market attractive "in terms of low level of competition, favorable demographic and economic environment in the country," he added.

Detsky Mir Group is a multi-format retailer and Russia’s largest specialized children’s goods retailer. The group comprises the Detsky Mir retail chain, and the ELC (Early Learning Centre in Russia) and the ABC retail chains, as well as the Zoozavr pet supplies retail chain.

The company operates a network of 710 Detsky Mir stores located in 266 cities in Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, as well as 48 ELC, 14 ABC and eight Zoozavr stores as of 30 September 2019. Total selling space is approximately 794,000 square meters.