Lee Cooper jeans stores file for insolvency

LCR Jeans, owning the licence for Lee Cooper stores domestically, filed for insolvency in mid-December 2009, with the reorganisation of its business being taken over by Euroinsol Consulting legal administrator of Prahova.

The company, held by a group of foreign investors, which offered no details about the current situation of the business, closed almost half of the number of stores, four of which in Bucharest.

Lee Cooper, which generated turnover worth almost 11m euros in 2008 when it had around 30 units, most of them in Bucharest, directly competes with Little Big or Levi's on a jeans market players in the field put at 300m euros. The estimate was made against an average of two pairs of jeans bought annually, at a price of 15 euros each, by about 10 million people.

The company a year ago announced it had a budget of above 3m euros for development and was due to reach a network of 50 Lee Cooper stores by late 2009.

Until the internal reorganisation decision, the jeans brand was one of the most visible in Romania, with countrywide coverage, both in major shopping centres and in street front locations on areas of 150 square metres. Depending on area, season and location, a store sells between 3,000 and 6,000 items, with jeans items accounting for most of the sales, as much as 60%, according to information previously provided by the company.

In late 2008, Ronen Haliva, LCR Jeans manager, owning 45% of the company, announced the retailer would end the year with 14m euros, but estimates were proven wrong by reality. From a 1.3m-euro profit and 10.6m-euro turnover in 2007, LCR Jeans stepped into the red the following year, amid flat turnover.

In 2009, the financial crisis further hurt the retailer's business, as the market fell by 30-40%. During the year, sales were driven by the clothes renewal programme.