ROMANIA: Auchan brings a new store format at the ground floor of Bucur Obor | Progresiv
French retailer Auchan announced that it will open its first supermarket in Romania within Bucur Obor store in Bucharest. The retailer unit will have a retail space of 2,300 square meters and will provide customers with a wide range of products, the pricing policy being in line with the company's commercial strategy. 
"We are pleased to announce the signing of the partnership with Bucur Obor SA, a partnership that will allow us to take another step towards the development of our proximity trade. The Auchan supermarket offer will cover all of our clients' daily needs. Our desire is that through this project we will bring the Auchan difference in the Obor area - the 0 kilometer of Bucharest trade", said Ionut Ardeleanu, General Director of Auchan Retail Romania.
The Auchan supermarket will be the first in this format and will join the chain of 33 hypermarkets and MyAuchan stores that the retailer will open this year.
The company has announced its intention to enter the supermarket segment in Romania since 2014. "We think of a store format framed between a hypermarket and a proximity store. We want to be a very convenient store in terms of shopping time for young customers with an alert life rhythm", said Frederic Bellon, former General Manager of Auchan Romania, at the end of 2014.
The first step in this direction was made earlier this year with the opening of MyAuchan's first proximity store in partnership with Petrom SA. Currently, the retailer has four proximity stores in Petrom stations from the Capital, but also in Potigrafu and Razvad.
In the more developed markets in Europe, Auchan has been operating for years on the supermarket and convenience stores segment. The most developed chains are Simply Market and A2Pas, both originally launched in France. At the moment, the retailer is working to launch the Auchan Supermarché brand in France by rebranding existing supermarkets.
In addition to the four units, Auchan Retail Romania also operates 33 hypermarkets with a sales area of 280,000 square meters. According to the latest financial data, the company reported a turnover of 4.89 billion lei in 2016, up by 10% over the previous year.
