Carrefour opens first hypermarket in downtown Bucharest

The location was bought from the Univers'All chain, which went bankrupt earlier this year. It has a total area of 3,600 sqm and Carrefour has invested more than €5 million in its renovation. Company officials said that prices in the new hypermarket will be similar to those in the network's other stores.

Carrefour Romania General Manager, Jacobo Caller Celestino, said Univers'All was not part of the company's plans, but they took advantage the opportunity because of the excellent location.

Some 400 people are working in the new Carrefour Unirea. The new store will offer the same amount of foodstuffs as other stores, but will has less non-food products, due to lesser space. Carrefour stores usually have an 8,000 sqm selling area.

Besides Carrefour Unirea, the company is to open a further three stores in the country this year, two in Iasi and one in Cluj-Napoca, for a total investment of some €60 million. In 2008, Carrefour will open a new store in Bucharest, and four more hypermarkets throughout the country. Celestino said that, in the medium and long-term, the company is targeting cities with more than 150,000 inhabitants. "In the coming two-three years, we plan to have at least one store in each of such cities. We are later going to analyze other expansion opportunities, in accordance with Romanian purchasing power and market evolution," he said.

Carrefour has invested more than €220 million so far in Romania. Last year, the company posted €608.9 million in sales, 39 percent higher year-on-year. Celestino estimates a further 10 percent increase in turnover in 2007, as a result of the chain's expansion.

The company's direct competitors are Cora (three stores), the Real hypermarket (nine stores) and Auchan (one store). The Romanian consumer goods market is estimated to be worth some RON 40 billion (€12.57 billion), a 17 percent increase year-on-year, according to Deloitte Romania.