HP estimates higher PC sales in 2011

Hewlett Packard (HP), the world's biggest IT company, has opened its first own store in Europe in Bucharest's Plaza mall, which it expects to post sales of up to 1 million dollars, said Tiberiu Dobre, manager of the Personal Systems Group (PSG) within the local subsidiary of the American company.

HP decided to open its first store of this type in Europe considering the very strong growth potential of the Romanian market for products such as PCs and printers, said Miriam Wong, manager within HP's regional division, who is also responsible for Romanian operations. "We chose this region to make this effort looking at the growth potential of this market." Previously, the company had such stores only in Latin America, but the concept will now be developed in Romania, and then on other European markets, such as Spain and Croatia.

The company has invested over 100,000 euros in the 100 square-metre store in Romania , which was developed by two UK companies: Briggs Hillier (design) and HJ Martin (building). The store is called "HP Store" and is operated by local retailer Altex, held by businessman Dan Ostahie. HP will also launch an online store, which will be available at the address hpstore.ro.