The entrepreneurs plan to open a new bookstore with a retail area of more than 800 square meters. The two and another investor, whose name they would not reveal, will invest EUR375,000 to EUR410,000 in arranging the space, not including the stock of merchandise. The Chrissoveloni heirs took care of the renovation of the building.
“We rented the entire building from Jean Chrissoveloni, the heir to one of the oldest families of bankers in Romania. It was our only way because, on the one hand, the building is not for sale, and on the other, we did not have the necessary resources, because we are still paying for building on 15, Arthur Verona Street (central Bucharest),” Carturesti officials said.
The Chrissoveloni Bank owned by the family by the same name was one of the most powerful financial institutions of the country until the communists took over. It was initially housed in the 55, Lipscani building that Carturesti rented, and then moved to a new building on the same street, which Romania’s central bank now uses. It was nationalized by the communist authorities along with the other properties of the family and the descendants of the Chrissoveloni bankers fought in court to get them back after 1990.
The new Carturesti bookstore will open in the first half of the year and take up 834 square meters distributed over four levels (three above ground levels and a basement level).
“It’s about as big as the Carturesti Verona book store,” said the officials of the chain. The Carturesti Verona is the largest and best-known store of the chain and also includes an outdoor bar and a coffee shop.
Carturesti is a 16 bookstore chain operating in the main cities across the country, according to its corporate website, and ended 2012 with 40 million lei (EUR9 million) revenue, according to the latest data available. Its owners said a few months ago they expected Direct Client Services, the operator of the bookstore chain, to reach EUR10 million revenue in 2013. Nicoleta Dumitru and Serban Radu started the bookstore chain in 2000.
Rent for an 800 square meter space in Bucharest’s Old Town ranges from EUR10 to EUR20 per square meter, or EUR8,300 to EUR16,600 per month and EUR100,000 to EUR200,000 per year, according to ZF estimates.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)