Foreign retail chains will spend EUR330 million to EUR400 million on openings, remodeling and logistics investments.
Eight of the modern retail chains have expansion plans, like they did in 2017. Metro Cash & Carry and Cora, on the other hand, have no plans to open any new stores in 2018, as they did not in 2017. The two stopped expansion several years ago. Cora bet on online sales and develop this market segment. Metro Cash & Carry, too, announced development of additional segments like the LaDoiPasi franchise. None of the two said anything about opening brick and mortar stores.
On the other hand, the expansion champions remain the same, with Profi in the lead. The supermarket chain opened about 200 stores in 2017, nearing 700. It will continue expansion at the same rate in 2018, as previously announced.
Second leading retailer in terms of expansion rate is Mega Image, 50-60 new stores and total investment budget of EUR50 million.
The two are also the biggest retail chains in Romania and operate supermarkets and convenience stores. Since their stores take up dozens or hundreds of square meters, it is easy to find suitable space. In comparison, a hypermarket may be as big as more than 10,000 square meters and may cost as much as EUR20 million including the price of land.
In all, the two networks have almost 1,300 stores, or some 60% of the entire modern retail universe. They plan to open 250 of the 300 to 350 new stores expected in 2018.
The biggest investment, however, will come from retailers like hypermarket operator Kaufland. Kaufland is the leading retailer in Romania, with a 116 hypermarket network. Expansion rate should slow down a bit from 2017 to five or six new stores, this year, ZF has found. The overall investment budget is EUR80 million to EUR100 million a year, which also includes remodeling and logistics, not just new store openings.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)