Mr. Bricolage delays expansion until next year

The Do-It-Yourself store network Mr. Bricolage will open two stores in Pitesti and Bucharest next year, which were initially scheduled to open in 2007, with the expansion depending on the plans of the developers with whom the company work. Brico Expert, which holds the licence for Mr. Bricolage stores in Romania, already owns some of the plots of land for the planned expansion within the next two years. By 2010, the network will reach a total of 8 stores in Romania. "The plots of land were acquired just before the real estate boom. On the Romanian real estate market, I don't think there is a limit to how much land prices can increase," said Tudor Profir, general manager of the Mr. Bricolage network in Romania. The company will invest 21 million euros to inaugurate three stores next year. One of these will be located in an independent location, in the town of Pitesti, and another in a retail park in the Capital. All home improvement networks present on the Romanian market have announced expansion plans for next year. Austrian company BauMax, which entered the market in 2006, will witness the fastest expansion, having scheduled 5 new stores per year, until 2010. This year has seen the entry of another retailer, German-based Hornbach, which has a larger store format and has a sales surface area of 16,000 square metres.