Carturesti - 60% books, 40% music, tea and films

The Carturesti group, which holds a nine-bookshop chain in Bucharest, Timisoara, Cluj, Constanta, Iasi and Suceava, has ended the first four months of this year with a 1.95 million-euro turnover, 29% more than last year, after opening five new shops last year. The new bookshop openings boosted the retail area by 40%, to an overall 2,500 square-metre area. The group's revenues per square metre fell by almost 8% in the first four months against the same period of last year, according to ZF calculations. "Last year we took out a loan in order to finance our investments. Although the economic context has changed, I think the new openings have been a good idea. We make long-term investments, which we will recover in 4-6 years," said Nicoleta Dumitru, who owns the company together with Serban Radu. Carturesti posted 5.3 million euros in turnover last year, up 43% against last year. Almost 60% of the turnover is fetched by books sold in Carturesti libraries, while the remaining 40% is accounted for by sales of music, films, tea and of other products.