The brand entered the domestic market in 2009, opening the first store in Baneasa Shopping City. Marinopoulos brought the brand in Romania in the midst of the crisis and expanded with caution, reaching, at its best, only three stores (Baneasa Shopping City, Sun Plaza and Plaza Romania), according to ZF data.
Marinopoulos Rom Fashion, the company that operated the Gap stores, generated revenue of nearly 6 million lei in 2012, the last year for which there are public figures, and losses of more than half of revenue.
At the time it brought Gap onto the market, the Greek company said it planned to add other brands, such as Banana Republic, to its portfolio, but it dropped these plans amid the crisis and the aggressive expansion of rivals.
As a matter of fact, Marinopoulos has in recent years given up other franchises as well, namely Marks&Spancer (fashion) and Sephora (cosmetics). The two brands are still present in Romania, but directly this time. The Greek company still owns the Starbucks franchise in Romania, the most important coffee shop chain domestically.
Gap thus joins other brands that, under the burden of the crisis and competition, have exited the market. According to ZF data, most brands that decided to leave Romania were brought here in a franchise system as this was the model that dominated domestically in the 2000s, when the market was still fledgling.
However, recent years have seen big names such as H&M, C&A and Inditex enter the market directly and sweep competition off. The three groups, the most powerful in Romania, jointly have over 150 stores and revenue of above EUR300 million, according to ZF estimates.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)