GTC announced Cora will be shutting down its local hypermarket. Cora officials have not offered any comment so far.
Cora has notified GTC Romania it would end its operations in the Galleria Arad mall as of June 1. The two companies will discuss potential damage claims as the lease contract for the space was for a ten-year period.
“We are also in talks with other hypermarket operators and retailers and Cora’s exit is not synonymous with a halt in activity for Galleria Arad,” GTC Romania CEO Danny Bercovich said in a statement Monday.
Of its total network, Cora’s four hypermarkets in Bucharest account for around 80% of its revenue,as according to ZF estimates. Cora’s sales had a modest evolution during the financial crisis, with a growth of just 16% in 2008-2014, even though it quadrupled its number of stores in the same period, from three to 12.
The hypermarket chain put its local expansion on hold at the end of 2013 and company officials said they were working to consolidate the business and not planning to sell.