“The LaDoiPasi chain now numbers 613 stores out of more than 700 contracts signed,” Metro Cash&Carry officials say. The network had about 500 stores at the end of last year.
The more than 600 stores branded as LaDoiPasi make it the largest retail network in Romania. In comparison, Mega Image, the biggest modern retail chain of the country numbers less than 250 stores.
The cash&carry chain introduced this program targeting the about 150,000 traditional retailers, a EUR7 billion to EUR8 billion market in the spring of 2012. It came at a time when shops on the ground floor of apartment buildings and small kiosks were being forced to close by the expansive aggression of supermarket and discount store networks.
The reason behind Metro Cash&Carry’s decision to launch this project is that traditional stores are actually its customers and their demise hurts Metro’s business, as well.
The officials of Metro Cash&Carry, which posted EUR1.018 billion revenue last year, did not say how many stores they planned to open this year or how high the sales of the LaDoiPasi chain were.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)