“We have closed down stores, we will continue to do so, but at the end of the year we will still have the same number of stores because we will also open new ones,” said Gabriel Carlig, head of Jolidon.
Recently, Jolidon closed down the stores it had on Bucharest’s Magheru Boulevard, one of the company’s best-known. Carlig explained he will open a new store on the same boulevard, but in a better location charging lower rent.
Carlig, who launched the Jolidon business 18 years ago when he was 26, said this will not be the only store closure. “We are closing down, we are opening, making the business profitable.”
He added he will open new Jolidon stores in shopping centers which will open towards the end of the year, and will end up with 85 stores, the chain’s current number of stores.
The financial crisis has also affected Jolidon’s foreign business. Jolidon, one of the few Romanian brands to have significantly expanded abroad, managing to build a network of almost 150 stores in Romania and abroad during the boom years, had to close down all its foreign stores.
For the Cluj manufacturer, difficulties started before the economic crisis, but deepened during the crisis, with the company having overall debts of RON235 million (EUR55 million), according to the Finance Ministry at the end of 2010. Moreover, the company’s turnover continued to decline, to around EUR18.8 million at the end of 2010, similar to the 2005 level, and 22% lower than in 2009. The figure includes export sales, sales of Jolidon’s own store chain and of partner stores.
“We bottomed out and I don’t think we can fall further. I think at the end of this year sales will grow 20-30% thanks to the rise of exports. Domestic market sales will remain the same,” said Carlig.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)