The three brands together are one of the most important competitors on the fashion retail market of about 15 billion lei (EUR3.35 billion) in Romania.
“I have completely restructured the business and created a company to manage all the brands. Montecristo Retail Ro has been the operator of the KVL by Kenvelo, Lee Cooper and Timeout brands since December 31, 2015,” says Philippe Besadoux, the executive who has been running the local business since 2009. Each brand used to be operated by a separate company before the change.
The group also rebranded the Kenvelo stores to KVL by Kenvelo, a process that has not been completed yet.
The retail chain of the group consists of 45 KVL by Kenvelo stores, 31 Lee Coopers and 17 Timeouts, 93 stores in all.
“We want to open about ten new stores under all brands this year.” The operator of the fashion brands plans to use a multibrand store strategy because it can create synergies between brands and help it get better terms from malls, the executive said.
It has already opened a 600 square meter multibrand store in Timisoara and Philippe Besadoux says that wherever possible, the option is to go for a multiband store. It merged the KVL and Timeout stores in the Orhideea shopping center and will do the same in AFI Palace Cotroceni and ParkLake Plaza.
It usually opens stores for its brands in malls and shopping centers, because of the guaranteed traffic and available parking space. It prefers to go to malls that have an entertainment area, after having noticed in France many years ago that fashion goes hand in hand with a cinema. This is why the group’s brands did not go to Promenada Mall, which does not have a cinema. Another important thing for a mall is to have a hypermarket, Besadoux said. (EUR1=RON4.4679)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)