It's official, the Gucci brand will enter the Romanian market in 2008. Two stores are scheduled to open next year via a company (rather than a franchise) with 40% of shares held by Gucci Group, and the rest by businessman Rocco Santopietro and an associate, as local partners. The same partnership was used to bring the Gucci brand onto the Ukrainian, Serbian and Bulgarian markets, as well as to bring the La Perla brand to the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. Rocco Santopietro had been, until not long ago, at the helm of the food&beverage department of the Howard Johnson hotel. Apart from dealing with premium products, Santopietro is also involved in hotel consulting and the import and distribution of gourmet products. The first store will be a monobrand store, dedicated exclusively to Gucci clothing, while the second unit will be a multibrand store, with Boucheron, Yves Saint Laurent and Gucci shoes, handbags and belts. "We target an exclusive audience, one that is used to spending a great deal of money on such products," says Rocco Santopietro. The investment amounts to over 1.5 million euros, and the location we have chosen is on Calea Victoriei (Victoriei Avenue), where the monthly rent will be 22,000 euros, with each store having a surface area of 550 square metres, according to Rocco Santopietro. The year 2008 will also see the Louis Vuitton brand enter the Romanian market. The French firm recently rented a 200 square-metre area in the shopping gallery on the ground floor of the JW Marriott hotel in Bucharest. The Armani fashion house is also expected to enter the domestic market next year with its youth clothing and accessories line, Emporio.
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