One of Romania's first supermarket chains, La Fourmi, has recently expanded in Bucharest.
"We took over five stores of Concordia company. We will renovate the m and will turn them into La Fourmi supermarkets," said Riad Hijal, financial director of the La Fourmi network, which now counts nine units.According to Hijal, the ocmpany did not buy the spaces from Concordia, but signed a long-term lease (at least 20 years). "Because we are interested in a long-term rental, we managed to negotiate a smaller price," Hijal said. The monthly rent per square metre in the commercial spaces ranges between 15-200 US dollars, depending on the area.Moreover, La Fourmi is now in talks with another Bucharest retail chain, which would add another four or five units to the existing supermarkets. "Acquisitions are good because the locations we buy already benefit from public awareness in the areas where they operate. We then invest in improving the respective locations and also come with the La Fourmi brand," Hijal added.The Concordia stores taken over by La Fourmi generally spread on 500-600 square metres, similar to the other supermarkets in the chain. "This acquisition strategy will allow us to reach 25 stores by the end of 2006. At the same time, we will also open our own supermarkets, but an investment in a piece of land for building a supermarket is justified only if the area is at least 2,000-2,500 sq. m big, because we also need parking spots," Hijal stated.Last year, the Concordia chain (which includes, besides the five locations taken over by La Fourmi, another unit in Eroii Revolutiei area) posted more than $6 million sales.La Fourmi logged over $14 million in sales last year and now owns nine supermarkets, of which one was opened last month in Calea Rahovei area. "We hope to open one or two of the stores we took over from Concordia by the end of the year, especially since we celebrate our tenth anniversary this month and want to have ten supermarkets," Riad Hijal said. La Fourmi is held by Romanian and foreign natural persons. The company also has Lebanese investors.The expansion of La Fourmi is a strategic decision, since the Bucharest market has witnessed the aggressive expansion of supermarket chains lately.
ionut.bonoiu@zf.ro
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