Beside the two entrepreneurs’ stores, Victoria 46 (multibrand), Agent Provocateur (underwear), Anastasia Beverly Hills (beauty salon) LaDuree (patisserie, confectionery) Victoria Gallery now also hosts spaces destined to Romanian designers and other foreign brands.
Thus, the two entrepreneurs decided to sub-rent several tens of square meters to some other brands after sales have plummeted in the past year.
“The luxury market has started deicing a little, but until after elections I do not believe we’ll stand to gain. Sales decline started around a year ago and we felt this mostly on the luxury fashion segment. Clients have shifted to Romanian designers, who are increasingly more visible and better,” says Dorothy Constantin.
Amid plummeting sales on the luxury fashion market, Dorothy Constantin and her associate closed down all fashion businesses except the store of Dorobanti. They kept the beauty salons of five-star hotel Radisson Blu, Victoria Gallery and Baneasa Shopping City.
Moreover, they opened a second LaDuree unit in Baneasa Shopping City this summer. “In Baneasa we will also open an Agent Provocateur store this month or in October”.
“We’ll still working on Dorobanti tenant mix. We’ll also bring new brands in the following period, such as Inglot (cosmetics) or Comptesse du Barry”.
Amid reorganization, the two entrepreneurs temporarily gave up some of the luxury brands of Victoria 46, namely Dior and McQueen, but kept others.
“In the first crisis years there were solid sales, but then they almost halved. I believe we made the reshuffling decision at the right moment”. The store of Dorobanti was closed down for three months for refurbishing and re-opened in April.
High Fashion Project company that operates the Dorobanti store according to the latest ZF data, ended 2013 with revenue of RON12 million and losses of RON1.2 million. In 2012, when the business was operated by two companies, revenue was almost double, but the two entrepreneurs owned several businesses.
“For this year, we’ve budgeted sales of EUR7,000/square meter for our stores”. Of the 900-sqm Dorobanti space, Victoria 46 and Agent Provocateur fill around 200 square meters. The beauty salon and LaDuree are operated by other companies.
“We will focus on Anastasia salons as the client range is wider and profit rates are better”. Each salon has between 800 and 1,000 clients monthly.
Another business line for the two entrepreneurs is LaDuree. “Our target is for EUR600 per day in each unit. In Dorobanti, we’ve already reached it during summer months. In Baneasa, we’ve already hit EUR500”.
Dorothy Constantin says investments in the two units have reached EUR550,000 and she hopes to recoup the money in four years.
“Our plan for the future is mainly to consolidate the already existent businesses and then mull expansion”.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)