In autumn, Debenhams’ new franchisee plans to open a new store in Plaza Romania, a shopping center where the brand was present before, just like in Vitan. Future plans also include new shopping centers such as ParkLake Plaza due to be opened next year, as well as existent malls.
The problem with the latter is they do not have spaces of 3,000-6,000 square meters available. This is the area filled by a Debenhams store, similar with that of a Kaufland hypermarket.
“We’re in talks with the officials of ParkLake Plaza, where we are likely to open a store of around 6,000 square meters, our biggest store in the region,” says Chris Harper, a sales manager at MRPI, the company owning Debenhams franchise in Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Croatia.
According to its own website, MRPI is a Bulgarian group operating on the real estate market of several countries, mostly of Central and Eastern Europe. Chris Harper says the group does not have other activities in Romania beside Debenhams, but offers no additional details about the group’s future plans.
He only specifies the group is likely to bring a new fashion franchise in the region in the future as there is still room for growth. In Romania, Debenhams brand will be operated by the Bulgarians through Bucuresti Fashion Retail Two.
Romania is the strongest fashion market in the region, with many brands already present here. This is why we are confident in the future of the brand and decided to bring it to Romania again, says Harper.
According to ZF’s latest data, Romanians spend around EUR2 billion on apparel and footwear annually and the market will continue to grow.
Debenhams has already tested the Romanian market, with the brand being previously brought locally by businessman Octavian Radu.
Though Radu renounced all the brand 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 will be laid out on three storeys and will include fashion collections, beauty products and home design products. The store will also include a design gallery. The store will operate as a department store and will battle both fashion retailers such as Zara or H&M, as well as Sephora and Douglas.
About the Vitan store, the British executive says he wants an average cash receipt similar with that of Great Britain, namely EUR43. Against an average of 730 clients and an average cash receipt of EUR40, the Vitan store is likely to generate revenue of EUR10 million in the first operational year, according to ZF calculations.
The next Debenhams opening will be in September in Plaza Romania. “Our plan is to open two new stores per annum. In 2016, we also plan to go outside Bucharest, we target the country’s big cities”.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)