Plus stores become Lidl in a month's time

Plus stores in Bucharest are crowded, both down the aisles and at the cash tills, where at least three, four people are waiting to pay for the products in their shopping carts, after taking advantage of the "permanent discounts" announced by the company both on its website and all across the stores.

Plus stores are preparing to be rebranded as Lidl in a month's time.

"In a month's time, Plus stores will disappear, they will be replaced by Lidl stores. The transition will not require for stores to close down. Everything will be done gradually, with the customers in stores," says the representative of a Plus store in Bucharest.

Lidl representatives did not wish to supply information as to when the rebranding process would start or about when the first Lidl store would open. They did not answer ZF's request for information as to how the transition from Plus to Lidl would be made.

The opening of the first stores in the Lidl chain, one of Europe's leading discount chains, has been awaited since the beginning of last year when the 80 million-euro transaction, the sector's biggest in 2010, was sealed.