International Expansion--Boston Market, Dr. Vinyl, Gold's Gym, McDonald's <b></b>

Denver-Boston Market Corp. and McDonald's Australiahave formed a partnership to develop the first Boston Marketrestaurant outside the United States, set to open in suburbanSydney in 2002. -Reuters

Lee's Summit, Missouri-Dr. Vinyl, a franchisespecializing in the repair of vinyl, fabrics and windshields, hasopened a new master franchise in Mexico. The master franchise,which is co-owned by Bernardo Sada and Francisco Monroy, will opena prototype location in Mexico City before expanding throughout thecountry. -Dr. Vinyl

Venice, California-Gold's Gym International announcedit is expanding its presence in Asia through a franchise agreementwith GlobalFit Asia. The countries targeted for the venture includeChina, Fiji, Guam, South Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam andTaiwan. -Internet Wire

Tokyo-Den Fujita, president of the Japanese unit ofMcDonald's Corp., says he is aiming to increase the number ofstores to 10,000 and yearly sales to one trillion yen (about $8billion). In the past business year, the company had total sales of431.1 billion yen (about $3.4 billion) for 3,598 stores. The numberof stores has since risen to around 3,700.-Reuters