Calea Victoriei loses another two tenants: Alb şi Negru and Mariella Burani stores

9 sep 2010 Autor: Cristina Stoian

Two fashion brands, Mariella Burani and Alb şi Negru, gave up their stores on Calea Victoriei, known as the only "luxury" shopping street comparable with the major boulevards of European capitals.
Whereas the store of Mariella Burani, the brand brought domestically by Alsa Boutique, a company also owning the franchise for Max Mara, Ermenegildo Zegna and Pal Zileri, was closed last month because of the company's financial troubles globally, Alb şi Negru gave up the space located near Radisson Blu hotel, in which it had operated in recent years.
Even as Daniel Rosner, Alsa Boutiques' manager, says the reasons of the closedown were not triggered by the Romanian market, many brands are giving up their Calea Victoriei spaces because of the rents seen as still high, despite of their levels having dropped by around 60% against 2008, according to MORE Real Estate Services real estate consultancy.
Alb şi Negru, the retail network controlled by fashion designer Agnes Toma and Gabriel Moraru, is the latest example. According to company sources, it gave up the space "because of owners' inflexibility as regards the rent, the more so as sales have declined during the crisis".