The Belgian-held retailer operates two store formats in Romania, the Mega Image supermarkets and the Shop&Go convenience stores. The latter is a concept introduced in 2010 to compete with small stores on the ground floor of apartment buildings and food kiosks.
“The registration and selection for taking over and managing a Shop&Go store has been suspended indefinitely, for the time being, because of the high number of applicants,” reads a message on Mega Image’s corporate website.
Company officials had not provided any answer about how many applications they had received and how many Shop&Go’s they planned to open this year by the time the story was ready for posting.
The retailer expanded its convenience store network aggressively last year and sources on the market say most of its new stores in 2013 will be Shop&Go’s. It plans to open 80 to 90 stores this year.
“Only registration and review of the applications from owners of retail space or holders of a lease thereof, who want to make that particular space available for a Shop&Go, remains open.”
The initial announcement inviting franchising applications said about a year ago that Mega Image would contribute the fully furnished space, the merchandise stock, rent and utility payment, its retail experience, logistics and marketing.
Aggressive expansion helped Mega Image business grow. Sales went up 37% to EUR288 million in 2011. If the average sales per store remained relatively constant last year, the retailer probably posted half a billion euro revenue, as the network almost doubled, according to ZF calculations.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)