The year 2018 was the busiest, with almost 20 brands choosing to enter Romania, while 2017 and 2019 were rather similar in terms of new arrivals, 13 and 11 brands.
“2019 looks set to become a memorable year for the local fashion market. On the one hand, famous brands chose to enter the Romanian market, one such example being Victoria’s Secret in Baneasa Shopping City in Bucharest and on the other, major retailers expanded beyond Bucharest, such as Peek Cloppenburg, which opened the biggest fashion store in Transylvania, 3,600 square meters, in VIVO! Cluj-Napoca. Peek & Cloppenburg also opened a second store in Timisoara, in Iulius Town,” said Carmen Ravon, Head of Advisory & Transaction Retail with CBRE Romania.
The year 2019 also saw the opening of the first Burger King restaurant in Romania by Amrest, the current franchise holder. The company announced bold plans for 2020. The next Burger King should open in AFI Palace Cotroceni and the third in Festival Mall in Sibiu.
“Retailer interest in Romania remains high, they are attracted by Romanian consumers’ appetite for shopping and by the rise in annual sales by more than 10%. Moreover, even though shopping centers have reached a maturity threshold, they are living organisms, constantly changing and need to differentiate and find the ideal mix of tenants, so as to preserve the traffic growth.”
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)