Rewe Romania, the local branch of German retail group Rewe, is planning to open eight more discounters in the next few years, with over 40 million euros in scheduled investments.
"We have already selected the locations in Bucharest and Sibiu, as we are to open two stores in each of these cities, and Targoviste, where we will open one store," Rainer Exel, Rewe Romania general manager said.
The German group is to open a store in Sibiu next month, its second after the XXL Mega Discount! opened in Bucharest in March last year.
"The investment will be the same as in Bucharest, that is more than 5 million euros," Exel says. The store will take up 3,500 sqm and will be located on Sibiu's DN1 (National Road 1) gate.
"Although the Romanian market gave a very warm welcome to the discounter concept, we preferred to wait for a year to examine the consumer behaviour and grasp the particularities of the market. We are now ready to develop the store network in those cities with more than 150,000 inhabitants, throughout the country," Exel added.
He added the Romanian consumers were most sensitive to the price of foodstuffs, on which they spend an average 80% of their monthly income. At present, the number of visitors for Rewe's Bucharest-based discounter is close to 20,000 a day, and half of them are actually buying something. Throughout the eight months in business in 2001, the XXL Mega Discount! sales exceeded 11.6 million euros, with foodstuffs accounting for 85%-90% of the total, as Exel says.
Although REWE operates a series of discounter chains across Europe (MiniMal, PennyMarkt), the XXL Mega Discount! is a brand especially designed for Romania, with the store taking up more space than any other type of stores.
There is also another discounter chain operating in Romania, in the western area to be precise. Profi is controlled by the French group Louis Delhaize, which currently holds six such stores, each having absorbed 500,000 euros in investments. Profi sold some $5 million's worth last year.
