Wal-Mart coming to Russia?

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) has made a pretty big deal recently of its international expansion plans that would add sales and (hopefully) profit into the company's coffers. This is especially important as Wal-Mart's U.S. operations, while continuing to bring in sales, do so at lower rates every quarter. It's no surprise -- the $348 billion retailer is just too large to have any kind of huge growth in its largest market; it's tapped out to a degree. Solution? Get into the international marketplace as good as you can.

Now, Wal-Mart knows all about defeat overseas; it exited the South Korean and German markets in 2006 since it became clear those countries' citizens just weren't excited about buying from Wal-Mart. The company sold its operations in those two countries and did an about-face of sorts. It partnered with Trust-Mart in China and Bharti in India to get a foothold in those two countries -- where consumer spending is not doing anything but going up. Now, word on the street is that Wal-Mart may be entering the Russian market.

The founder of the Pyaterochka retail chain, Andrei Rogachev, wants to bring Wal-Mart to Russia apparently. According to Russian property development company Macromir, Wal-Mart has been talking since May about a possible entry into the Russian retail market. If Macromir and Wal-Mart reach an agreement soon, the global retailer will lease space in shopping complexes or new stores built just for Wal-Mart. These stores would be Supercenter-size, at roughly 200,000 square feet each. It's still a rumor that Wal-Mart will even enter the Russian market, but if it is serious about expanding international operations that are actually successful, Russia would make a great choice.