Profi was also the retailer with most stores opened in one year in 2016, when it inaugurated 134. It stepped up expansion, so it now has almost 700 stores, while rival Mega Image has about 585 stores.
There are about 2,000 hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience and cash & carry stores in Romania’s modern retail.
Profi and Mega Image operate on the small format segment – supermarkets and convenience stores, which require lower investments and are easier to find space for.
Mega Image lost the top spot as the network with most stores in 2017, after having been in the lead for a number of years. The retailer slowed down expansion in the past few years from more than 100 stores to almost half and announced it would continue at the same rate, 50 to 60 stores a year.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)