ROMANIA: Modern retail new store openings in November | Progresiv
International retail chains continued their local investments and have opened 32 commercial units in November, the month in which retailers had the highest pace of expansion since the beginning of the year up to this moment. The star of the openings was, again, the proximity segment. 
The first position among the most expansive retailers is occupied by Mega Image, which opened 15 new stores. In second place in the ranking is Profi, who marked 8 units, while the third position is occupied by Carrefour, who opened a hypermarket and 3 supermarkets. Also last month, dm drogerie markt and Lidl each marked two openings and Kaufland opened its fourth hypermarket of this year, in Timisoara.
Of the 15 units opened by Mega Image, 9 belong to the Shop & Go proximity format and 6 to the Mega Image banner. November is the month in which the Belgians marked the most openings, currently reaching a chain of 456 commercial units operated at national level. From the beginning of the year up to this moment Mega Image opened 45 stores under the Mega Image and Shop & Go banners although earlier this year the retailer announced plans to open at least 100 units in 2015.
Profi had 8 openings in November, of which 3 in standard format, 2 in City format and 4 format in the format dedicated to the areas, Profi Loco. With these openings the retailer controlled by Polish investment fund has reached 363 units, operated in 173 cities.
The French from Carrefour opened in November one hypermarket in Timisoara, the only major city in which the retailer was not yet present. The retailer also opened three supermarkets, in Comarnic, Targu Jiu and Timisoara. With these openings the chain operated locally by Carrefour reached 186 stores, of which 26 hypermarkets and 104 Carrefour Market supermarkets.
Lidl and Kaufland, both part of the Schwarz group, also continued their investment in Romania. Thus, Kaufland opened its fourth hypermarket in Timisoara (the 105th nationwide). This is the third opening of the Germans in 2015 and until the end of the year there will be two more Kaufland hypermarkets opened, in Arad and Braila. On the other side, Lidl has reached the threshold of 191 commercial units by opening its first store in Suceava and the fourth in Craiova. The retailer also relocated its store in Targu Mures.
The dm drogerie markt chain of stores opened at the end of November two commercial units, in Craiova and Targu Mures, thus reaching a total of 78 operational units.
For more detailed analysis regarding the international retailers’ expansion on the local market access the interactive Ika Romania application: www.ika.magazinulprogresiv.ro.
