After Romania has proved to be the European country with the fastest expansion of modern retail in the past decade, expectations are equally high for the next decade.
According to Oxford Economics, the retail market will see an annual average growth of 5% by 2020. Romania will boast the quickest pace.
The biggest appetite for investments in consumer goods retail is still focused on Bucharest. Around 100,000 square meters of retail space (about 20 football fields) could still find clients in Bucharest, reveals a survey by Contrast Management Consulting.
Other appealing targets for food retail investments are the counties of Dolj (35,000 square meters), Prahova (32,000 square meters), Dambovita (30,000 square meters) and Valcea (30,000 square meters).
The flood of retail investments in pre-crisis years was hardly surprising, as Romania had many areas untouched by modern trade formats.
However, retail operators have not put a brake on expansion in recent times, when consumer spending is no longer increasing as it used to, but actually it is declining.
Retail networks are planning to invest over half a billion euros, according to BUSINESS Magazin’s estimations, to open new stores this year. And this happens even though shoppers’ cautious spending has clearly made an impact on their stores.
While last year food retail chains opened 132 new stores, this year projections are even more upbeat, pointing to the opening of around 150 units.
Cora, for instance, announced it wanted to open over 10 new stores in the following years, for which it should spend several million euros.
French Carrefour has also earmarked large sums for new store openings. For this year alone, two new stores are scheduled, one in Bucharest, in September, and the other in Botosani, in October.
However, the star of retail investments is Mercadia, controlled by billionaire Dinu Patriciu, Mercadia will buy 500 Mercedes Benz Sprinter vans for the expansion of its network of mobile shops alone.
Patriciu has recently announced plans for investments of EUR150 million to EUR200 million in its Mac.ro network alone this year, to reach 150 discount stores by yearend.