The shareholders of Kenvelo, one of the oldest and best-known brands on the local fashion market won the Lee Cooper franchise for Central and Eastern Europe and will open 60 stores, half of which in Romania.
“This year we entered or are about to enter several markets, such as Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Hungary and Romania,” says Andy Dunkley, Lee Cooper’s CEO. “We will have 60 stores in all. Half of them will be in Romania, because we consider it the most important market.”
In Romania for the first time, Dunkley, who has been running the operations of the British manufacturer for three years, added that the number of Lee Cooper stores on the local market would reach 15 to 20 next year. There are eight such stores now, with the ninth scheduled for opening in Craiova (southern Romania) on November 17.
As of this year, Kenvelo’s shareholders, PioFrancesco Borghetti and Ni Lesh Sajnani, have a new strategy for Romania and will create a three-brand group comprising Kenvelo, Lee Cooper and Tom Tailor. They got the CEE franchise for Lee Cooper and signed a partnership with German-held Tom Tailor this year.
Philippe Besadoux, CEO of the group comprising the brands in Romania says talks are now being held to open new Lee Cooper stores throughout the country. “I have already signed contracts for Timisoara, Pitesti, Iasi and Cluj. I am in talks for more.”
Lee Cooper is thus reentering the market after the holder of the Lee Cooper license in Romania, LCR Jeans, went insolvent about two years ago, by which time all the stores had already been closed. The business, which numbered 30 stores in its heyday, amounted to EUR11 million. That was in 2008, before the onset of the crisis.
Besadoux, 52, says that the Lee Cooper network could reach 30 stores in Romania again by the end of 2013 if everything goes well.
A typical Lee Cooper store has an about 100 square meter floor area and Besadoux hopes for revenue of EUR4,000 per square meter. As for sales, Dunkley says the company expects the average cash receipt to reach EUR60 to EUR70.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)