Shanghai's Wal-Mart store will finally materialize in early 2005 at the city's northeastern emerging shopping district - Wujiaochang.

　　In January, Yangpu District Commercial Commission announced that the American firm had decided to open its first local store in the district, ending three years of speculation onswheresthe world's No 1 retailer would set up shop.

　　The first Wal-Mart store will be on the first and second floors of the Dalian Wanda Commercial Plaza which is expected to open in 2005, the commission said.

　　The store will cover 18,000 square meters of the 160,000-square-meter Wanda mall, located at the intersection of Handan Road and Songhu Road. The store will have a children's play area, a fitness center and restaurants.

　　The outlet will be noticeably different from outlets of domestic hypermarkets in that it will focus on providing a sufficient supply of fresh vegetables and other specialty foods.

　　Nearly a quarter of all goods will be fresh vegetables or foodstuff.

　　In addition, a Sam's Club outlet, a bulk-food cousin of Wal-Mart which uses a membership system, could open at the end of 2005, according to sources close to the retailer.

　　The Shanghai store is Wal-Mart's initial foraysintosthe East China region. It has also signed an agreement with Dalian Wanda to open an outlet in the Nanjing Wanda Commercial Plaza. It has consulted with the Ningbo and Hangzhou governments on new store plans, Wanda officials said.

　　At present, there are 26 Wal-Mart outlets in the mainland, all in the southern provinces of Guangdong and Fujian.

　　Although some analysts doubt if Wal-Mart's entry would affect local business at present, no one doubts its strength and its future impact, given its sufficient capital, advanced technology and experienced market operation.

　　With its arrival, competition is set to escalate in Shanghai's already-crowded hypermarket sector. In addition, ambitious expansion plans have also been mapped out by domestic and overseas rivals over the past year.

　　Currently, there are more than 10 companies running nearly 70 hypermarkets in the city, according to the Shanghai Chain Enterprise Association.

　　Among them are foreign operators Carrefour, Lotus, Metro, Auchan and E-MART.

　　To prepare for its arrival, Wal-Mart set up a Shanghai procurement center last November to concentrate on purchases from manufacturers in eastern and northeastern China.

　　The center, which is located at the ShanghaiMart, is still being set up. Roger Lee, general manager of the Shanghai procurement center, said the operation was progressing smoothly and would start business in July.

　　Wal-Mart said earlier this year that it expected to buy goods worth US billion in China, up from last year's US billion.