Two years after giving up fighting for customers in Romania, UK’s Debenhams returns with the second store on the local market (the first opened in Bucuresti Mall). This time, the retailer arrives as a franchise via Bulgarian MRPI group.
A Debenhams store for the Romanian market is devised for a multi-story layout and 3,000 to 6,000 square meters, which means it takes up as much space as hypermarket. Debenhams should open two stores a year and the 2016 list might include the largest such store in Romania, a 6,000 square meter one in ParkLake Plaza in Titan district in SE Bucharest (which should open in the spring), for which it is already in talks.
Chris Harper, MRPI sales manager, told ZF in an interview in the spring that the British brand would like to go to other shopping centers in Romania, as well, such as Baneasa Shopping City or AFI Palace Cotroceni, but finding a sufficiently large space was difficult.
Debenhams has already tested the Romanian market, with the brand being previously brought locally by businessman Octavian Radu.
Though Radu renounced all the brands he had in his portfolio, many of these have returned on the local market or have plans to tap the local market again, but under the umbrella of other franchisees.
The store of Bucuresti Mall takes up 2,800 square meters, is laid out on three stories and sells fashion collections, beauty products and home design products, which makes it a competitor to Zara or H&M, as well as Sephora and Douglas.
Debenhams will sell both its own fashion brands such as Red Herring, Mantaray, Maine, Collection, and Bluezo in its stores, as well as other brands such as Jack&Jones and Vero Moda. It will also carry designer collections such as John Rocha, Julien Macdonald and Matthew.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)