This is the first large store that Mobexpert closes down, after the group had shut down or relocated over 20 (small-sized) stores and in the past few years focused on opening hypermarkets (covering over 7,000-10,000 sq m).
“The contract to open this store was signed in 2005, when the market looked completely different, and the opening was in 2010. Sales were rather poor from the very start. We sought the support of the owners [of the space] but their response was not acceptable,” Sucu told ZF.
The closure of the store takes place in a difficult context for the furniture market both for large players and for smaller firms. As in previous years, sales on the domestic market continued to fall into the first few months of 2012.
Sucu says sales of the Berceni store were 60% of the expected level and that its opening took customers away from other stores of the chain. The businessman said the store was financed from other sources for two years and that losses could be put at over EUR2 million.
The closure of the store leaves Mobexpert with four stores in Bucharest.
Mobexpert has a chain of 32 large and smaller-sized stores, as well as several furniture plants. The recently closed down store had a turnover of 16.6 million lei (EUR3.7 million), losses of RON0.8 million (EUR.02 million) and 64 employees in 2010, according to Finance Ministry data.
There is no data available for 2011. (EUR1=RON4.4494)
(English version by Daniela Stoican)