“As of next spring, we will start to tap into the Chinese market, we will attend fairs and exhibitions and then choose a showroom for our products,” says Rares Jianu (39), one of the founders of Tina R, in one of his few press interviews.
The company has already started to deliver products to Poland for the autumn-winter season and is still in talks with Middle Eastern countries.
“We will sell Tina R products wholesale or to multi-brand stores. It takes too large an investment to open your own stores and you have to know the market very well. This is too costly for us and we cannot afford to fail,” says Jianu.
18 years ago, Jianu launched the Tina R business on the Romanian market together with Iulia Sevastina Stoica, who has stayed on as a shareholder. The company chose to go to external markets after Tina R Distributie, one of the companies through which the chain’s stores are operated, filed for insolvency.
Sales of the Tina R stores started on a downward trend in 2009, when they fell by around 11% against the previous year. Last year, the decline deepened to 31%, to EUR6 million, according to Jianu. The first eight months of this year things turned around, with turnover rising 37% against the similar period of 2010.
According to the Finance Ministry, Tina R Distributie last year posted a turnover of EUR2.88 million and EUR900,000 in losses.
“The idea of filing for insolvency came to us in 2009 when other retailers chose this solution. But because insolvency does not give a good name, we tried to hold out. In 2010, declines became steeper and we saw a precipice before us and no way to avoid it. Rents were high, funding from banks did not come, collections did not reach the stores in time and they no longer included the best products.”
In the meantime, the situation has become more balanced, rents have fallen and sales have returned to growth, but Tina R Distributie, which operates nine of the chain’s 17 stores, has filed for insolvency. The other eight stores are operated by Brands in Trade, which, according to Jianu, does not have financial problems. Tina R filed for insolvency after the company’s working capital loan from Romexterra Bank was sold to a debt recovery company, according to Jianu.
“We chose insolvency in order to be able to negotiate the loan’s repayment.” The company could be declared insolvent on September 23.
Despite sales of the local stores rising in the first eight months, with Tina R estimating the trend will be pursued for the remainder of this year, Rares Jianu is not optimistic about consumption. He does not expect sales to see a significant increase in the future, but says he would be happy if things were balanced, as they are now.
“As for the Romanian market, we should not expect miracles. That is why we are looking for new markets.”
(English version by Daniela Stoican; Editing by Radu Bostan)