“Depending on market offers, we want to expand further. We will definitely open at least four stores this spring in cities like Brasov, Braila, and Iasi,” says Cristian Codrea, district manager of C&A Romania.
Last year, the Dutch company opened ten stores in ten Romanian cities, including capital Bucharest. In 2011, C&A opened more stores than it had in its first two years on the market, reaching a total number of 17 stores.
“All cities with at least 100,000 inhabitants are attractive to us,” said Cristian Codrea, adding all C&A stores are based on the same concept – products for the entire family. The average area of a C&A store is of around 1,200 square meters.
The Dutch retailer has so far opened stores only in shopping centers, but it does not rule out opening free-standing stores, if the opportunity arises.
Inditex in Craiova
The largest retailer on the local market, Spanish group Inditex, present on the local market with seven of its eight brands (Zara, Zara Home, Bershka, Stradivarius, Pull&Bear, Oysho, and Massimo Dutti) opened only one free-standing store, in the city of Pitesti.
“This year, on March 7, we will open a free-standing store in a historic building in Sibiu. This spring we will also open Zara, Bershka, Stradivarius, and Pull&Bear stores in Electroputere Parc shopping center,” says Mihai Cioltea, expansion manager with the Spanish retailer.
New Look in Iasi, Craiova, and Oradea
New Look, which entered the local market in 2011, is another retailer who will pursue expansion this spring. Greece’s Fourlis Group, which in Romania holds the franchise of Intersport stores through its subsidiary Genco Trade, brought the UK retailer New Look to the Romanian market. Last year it opened four stores in Afi Palace Cotroceni and Baneasa Shopping City in Bucharest, Maritimo Shopping Center in Constanta, and Polus Center in Cluj.
“This spring, we will open three new stores in Iasi, Craiova, and Oradea. We are also in talks for other locations, but we will announce them when talks are finalized,” says Ionas Ignatios, country manager of Genco Trade Romania&Bulgaria.
Similarly to most fashion retailers, New Look opens stores in shopping centers. “We don’t rule out opening free-standing stores, but we haven’t planned anything so far,” Ignatios adds.
Three for EUR200 million
None of the representatives of the three retailers wished to provide financial data regarding their turnover in 2011, but according to ZF estimates, the cumulated turnover of the three retailers amounts to some EUR200 million.
Romanian fashion retail is valued by market research company Euromonitor International at around EUR1.9 billion, i.e. around EUR7.5 per capita per month, according to ZF calculations. But Euromonitor expects Romanians will spend increasingly more on clothing in the near future, so the market is seen reaching EUR2.9 billion and EUR4.2 billion in 2020.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)