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GNC Celebrates Opening of 1,000th International Franchise Store
PITTSBURGH, June 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Today GNC celebrates the opening of its 1,000th international franchise store in Sofia, Bulgaria - marking yet another milestone for the company's international franchising division this year. In February, Entrepreneur magazine named GNC Franchising, Inc. the world's #1 franchise in the vitamins category for the 18th year in a row, and ranked the company #32 overall in its elite list of first-rate franchising opportunities. The 1,000th international store will be operated by Bissera Pramatarova, M.D., and Atanas Iantchev, M.D., of United Medical Communications, Ltd., which franchises the rights to GNC's development in Bulgaria. United Medical Communications, Ltd. is an exclusive distributor of Flora Health of Canada in that country, where it is pursuing various other opportunities in the healthcare industry. For GNC, the new store opening signifies great potential for continued growth and dissemination of its retail concept across the European Union, which Bulgaria joined in January. Reg Steele, senior vice president of GNC's international franchising division, said he's certain that more members of the EU will come to accept and embrace the GNC brand, as it stands for quality and good self-healthcare across all the international markets it has developed over the years. "Our continued focus on global expansion, coupled with increasing worldwide demand for our products, has lead to great success in the industry and around the world," he said. "We look forward to the opportunities this partnership will surely bring." About GNC: GNC, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pa., is the largest global specialty retailer of nutritional products; including vitamin, mineral, herbal and other specialty supplements and sports nutrition, diet and energy products. GNC has more than 4,800 retail locations throughout the United States (including more than 1,000 franchise and 1,200 Rite Aid store-within-a-store locations) and franchise operations in 48 international markets. The company -- which is dedicated to helping consumers Live Well -- also offers products and product information online at http://www.gnc.com. Web site: http://www.gnc.com
