Romanians do not want stores on wheels: Family Frost leaves market

Family Frost, a German company that invested 10m euros to launch a new business model on the Romanian market, a network of stores on wheels, announced its withdrawal from Romania.
Through reorganisation at group level, the Germans exit Romania after two years during which they reached 3m-euro sales and average turnover per store of 24,000 euros per year. By comparison, a 50-sqm small store in a good Bucharest location boasts annual sales of above 100,000 euros.
Family Frost brought a retail concept domestically which nobody else has tested on the market: in 2008, the company brought 40 vending vehicles that daily went to districts in the big cities to sell products such as ice-cream, frozen vegetables or semi-cooked food.
"Foreseeing the difficult economic conditions that will follow (confirmed in the second quarter of 2010), Family Frost International board decided to cease operations on the Romanian market," stated Laurenţiu Munteanu, country manager with Family Frost Romania.