"Any new mall opened in the city hurts retailers, because customer traffic falls, while costs remain the same, or go up even higher. This generates losses worth up to 40% per store, especially in cities where the market is not big enough to absorb three-four shopping centres, and this includes hypermarkets, which also have shopping galleries," Miruna Dumitrescu, PR manager with Benvenuti told ZF.
The low traffic prompted the company's management to close down one of the Benvenuti stores at the end of this season; a store located in Mures Mall, in Targu Mures. "We decided to keep only the store situated in the pedestrian area of Targu Mures," explained Dumitrescu.
However, expansion by eight stores in a single year, and better brand awareness boosted Benvenuti's turnover to around 5.12 million euros (18.44 million RON) in the first half, up 32% against the same time last year.
Currently, the footwear and leather products retailer holds a network of 32 stores, which includes 26 Benvenuti stores, three Leggero outlet stores, one Oxus store, (dedicated exclusively to leather products) and two Enzo Bertini stores, which address high-income customers.
"This autumn will see the opening of five new stores - in Iasi (in Era Park shopping centre), Deva (Deva Mall) and Bucharest (Cora Lujerului, Liberty Center and Fashion House Outlet)," Dumitrescu added.
The Benvenuti group mainly targets customers with above-average incomes through its Benvenuti and Enzo Bertini stores. For the Benvenuti store chain, the management intends to withdraw a few of its brands from the market, such as Marco Santini, TheZeus and Formenterra, and replace them with the Benvenuti brand.
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