Diverta opened a 180 sqm bookstore in ParkLake mall (Bucharest) this week, one in Constanta and one in Piatra-Neamt and has no other store opening plans for this year, company CEO Amalia Buliga told Ziarul Financiar.
Buliga said Diverta will open five more stores next year.
Investment in a new store amounts to EUR50,000.
Buliga, who has been running Diverta since 2010, recently became a shareholder in the company with a 10% stake, after a capital hike.
The bookstore chain ended 2016 with a turnover of EUR10.5 million, up 10% compared with 2015.
Romania’s local book market is estimated at EUR80 million. On the distribution market, Diverta competes against the Carturesti bookstore chain, owned by entrepreneurs Nicoleta Dumitru and Serban Radu, who expect sales of over EUR20 million this year after EUR18 million last year.
Diverta was market leader before entering insolvency in 2010 and had 62 bookstores. Following restructuring, it closed several units and currently has 30 stores.