Hornbach’s new unit is opened three years from the last inauguration. Last October, it bought an about three-hectare plot and the space where a store of rival Obi used to operate in Sibiu, which left the Romanian market. As announced by the company, the Sibiu store should have reopened in the first half of this year.
“The investment in the acquisition and planning of the store in Sibiu will probably total EUR9 million, stocks excluded,“ said Rusu.
Rusu added the company envisages other investments in new units in 2016, targeting Cluj, Constanța, Craiova, Pitesti or Moldova area.
Hornbach embraced a slow expansion policy in Romania where it introduced a very large format store concept. It opened its first two stores in Bucharest in Berceni (south of the city, 2007) and Militari (west of the city, 2008), and then expanded to Brasov (2009) and Balotesti-Ilfov (near Bucharest, 2010). Its fifth store was inaugurated in Timisoara in 2012, following a EUR30 million investment.
According to Rusu, the company will keep the slow expansion policy in the future and will not buy or start building two or three store in one year.
In the first semester, Hornbach Romania’s sales increased 10%, over the company’s expectations that forecasted a 3% growth, fueled by the positive macroeconomic development as well as by the enthusiasm triggered by the real estate sector revival.
According to research company InterBiz Research & Consulting, the local do-it-yourself (DiY) sector totaled EUR1.4 billion in 2014, 70% of the sales representing products related to the constructions market, while the rest with the interior decorations, furniture, textile, electronics or auto products.
(English version by Manuela Panescu)