ROMANIA: Auchan could launch several proximity retail formats | Progresiv
Auchan Romania, who announced last year that it wants to develop a smaller retail format called Auchan City XS, does not exclude the possibility to enter the Romanian market with smaller stores, according to the General Director of Auchan Romania, Frederic Bellon. 
“At the moment we are working on the idea to open smaller stores. We are thinking about how, when and where it will be appropriate to open them”, said Frederic Bellon.
The Auchan City XS project aims to develop stores that are smaller than the Auchan City hypermarkets while they will be located in central areas of major cities in Romania. If the stores have less than 1,500 square meters, they will have a different name, said Auchan’s General Director.
Auchan is also present in several countries through the Simply supermarkets chain, so the French group could develop this format on the Romanian market as well.
Concerning the possibility that the French retailer could enter the online commerce in Romania, Frederic Bellon said “there is a chance to do this next year”, but he could not provide further information on this topic.
The manager also stated that it is “possible but not probable” for Auchan Romania to inaugurate new stores, but that no openings are yet established for the next year. “We are working on several expansion projects, but I cannot tell you when we will open these stores”, the manager added.
Auchan chain has 33 hypermarkets in Romania, with a combined selling area of 280,000 square meters. After taking over the 20 Real hypermarkets from German group Metro, Auchan has opened two more hypermarkets built from scratch in Drumul Taberei neighborhood in Bucharest and in Brasov, in Coressi Shopping Resort, developed by Immochan, the real estate arm of Auchan.
Since entering the Romanian market, the French group have invested amount 520 million euros.
