DIY store chain Dedeman, held by Bacau-based brothers Adrian andDragos Paval, has recently started construction work on stores inCraiova and Brasov, where it could invest 15 million euros, a sumthat does not include the price of land.
"The chain's first two openings in 2010 will be made in Craiovaand Brasov, in spring. Brasov will accommodate the Dedeman chain'slargest store, which has a 17,700 square-metres built area. Bothplots were bought in 2008 and are among the chain's 11 certainexpansion locations announced this year," said Dragos Paval,Dedeman's president and majority shareholder.
The company, which entered the Bucharest market this year, isthe second-largest player in DIY retail in terms of turnoverreported in 2008, being outranked only by German-heldPraktiker.
Sales of the Romanian retailer went up 35% last year, to 250million euros. Dedeman announced in February it set out to keep thechain's 2009 at the same as level as in 2008 amid a decline indemand for construction materials and for interior decorations.Paval did not wish to reveal data on the company' sales in thefirst nine months of this year.
Dedeman's national expansion strategy level targets thedevelopment of a 30-store network by 2015.
This year the retailer completed four expansion projects, two ofwhich in Bucharest, in the wake of investments worth almost 50million euros. The chain's latest opening was in Bucharest, in aretail park developed together with cash & carry store chainSelgros, operated by German group Rewe.
The store in Craiova will also be located next to a Selgrosstore, on a plot acquired from the German retailer last year.Dedeman currently operates 16 stores, with over 3,000employees.
In the first half of the year, DIY retail fell by 15-20% againstthe similar period of 2008, according to estimates made by storeoperators who expect things to worsen in the last quarter of theyear, as a result of frozen large investments in the residentialsector.
2009 is the first year of decline in DIY retail, which had upuntil now recorded annual rises of over 20-30%.
Large foreign store chains Praktiker and Bricostore, which werethe first DIY players to tap into the Romanian market, arrived herein 2002, while the second wave of foreign investments started from2006 onwards, with the launches of retailers BauMax (Austria),Hornbach and OBI (Germany).
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