SUMMARY.   M. Dikanov Status and prospects of development of trade networks in small cities (e.g., Volgodonsk town)   To date, major retailers don't active work at such promising market segments as small towns, for this reason in small towns are still actively developing its own sales network. However, the trend is going for merging networks and changing the format of trade in the fight for a potential customer. Typical for the big cities dynamic of the network retail is now spreading to small cities. Small towns today, promising to strengthen and develop business in the retail trade.