French retailer Auchan targets 22 cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants by 2010, and will continue to implement its hypermarket format with larger sales areas in order to compete with direct rivals.
"We will continue to expand with large-scale hypermarkets, because this what we specialise in. The Discount Market store in Timisoara is an exception and is a different kind of retail experience, which is paving the way for an Auchan hypermarket in the city," said Regis Mougel, general manager of MGV Distri Hiper Romania, which operates the Auchan network.
The network' s future expansion, at a rate which could reach 6-10 stores a year, will take MGV Distri Hiper Romania investments to half a billion euros by 2010.
Auchan has been present on the Romanian market since autumn 2005, when it started preparations to establish itself on the Romanian market. The company's shareholders include Mougel and other French individuals, who are involved in running the company's operations, as well as Romanian partners.
Currently, the network numbers 4 hypermarkets in Bucharest, Targu Mures, Pitesti and Cluj-Napoca, and a supermarket in Iulius Mall Timisoara, which has around 3,000 clients a day, according to data provided by Mougel. The manager also said the network's expansion on the Romanian market would require a logistic centre within the next few years, where most of the goods secured from suppliers would be delivered to.
Next year, the company has earmarked investments for Constanta, Timisoara and Suceava.
"The workforce market is increasingly causing problems. There is a shortage of skilled workers i.e. butchers, bakers," added Mougel. However, in Pitesti, where Auchan opened a hypermarket with a sales area of 10,000 square metres, the company received 4,500 applications for 450 available jobs. The network currently has 2,500 employees, as opposed to 10, two years ago.
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