“Gucci’s return to Bucharest is not just a retail milestone, but a proof of the maturity of the luxury market in Romania,” says Robert Coman, founder of the TOFF Group.
Gucci had had a presence in Romania with a franchised store until about four years ago.
The store closed while doing very well, almost RON21 million sales in 2021, a slight increase from RON20.7 million in the previous year. The year 2021 had been its best since opening, ZF reported at the time.
ZF also reported that the store closed because the Gucci owners no longer wanted to operate via a franchised store. The brand is now returning to Romania with a department store presence.
TOFF Galleries has also attracted other fashion brands such as Dior, Valentino, Saint Laurent, Dolce & Gabbana, Celine, Loewe and Alaïa, the company said.
The Comans, who have focused on luxury fashion recently, had previously developed Transenergo COM, a business that had grown to about EUR300 million and accounted for more than 5% of the power supply market. That business filed for insolvency in 2017, as a result of crisis caused by power prices.
Robert Coman is also one of the founders of retailer and distributor Best Computers.
The Comans also developed Terminal of Fashion, whose portfolio includes Valentino Garavani, Dolce & Gabbana, Philipp Plein, Billionaire, Ermanno Scervino and more recently ZEGNA, single and multi-brand stores, most of which in the shopping gallery of the five-star JW Marriott Hotel in Bucharest.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)