Cora, the fourth-largest hypermarket chain on the Romanianmarket, but owner of the best-performing stores in terms of sales,has radically changed its strategy and pursues a much moreaggressive expansion plan, as land prices have been cut by as muchas half in some cases, and shopping centre owners are willing tocharge much lower rents.
Cora, the network held by the Franco-Belgian group LouisDelhaize, has signed its third contract for a hypermarket openingin the last four months, after the retailer had opened only fourstores between 2002 and 2010.
This compares with over 20 stores in Romania held by each ofits two main rivals, Carrefour and Real, with Real entering themarket much later than Cora, in 2006.
This year, Cora has already opened a hypermarket in Sun Plazashopping centre in Bucharest, where it hired 800 people, and willopen another 8,000 square-metre store in Gold Plaza mall inBaia-Mare. Cora also announced yesterday it would build ahypermarket in Drobeta Turnu Severin, with the project to bedeveloped by IBT ROM Construct. On the other hand, Carrefour, thelargest player on the market, has not announced any new storeopenings lately.
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