Selgros stands by its 21-store target

Germany-based Selgros Cash & Carry maintains its expansion target at 21 stores on the Romanian market, but says land price is still an obstacle to expanding the network. The retailer is to finalise construction of its 18th store on the Romanian market in September, following an investment put by ZF at 25-30 million euros. The store will be located in a retail park developed by Selgros and Dedeman on Valea Cascadelor Street in Militari district, on a plot acquired last autumn by the two companies for 40 million euros, according to data from the real estate market. Dedeman has recently announced that it will open the store in Militari in August. This will be the fourth Selgros store in Bucharest and the network's only opening this year. In fact, this is the only expansion project on the cash & carry market in Romania this year, given that Metro, the only direct competitor of the Selgros network, announced that it would focus on developing client services as of 2009, and not on expansion. "Although we are constantly looking for new locations, prices of plots that are right for our investments are very high. Because of this situation, the investment in the new Selgros store in Bucharest is much higher than the 15-17 million-euro investments per store we made for the network's other 17 stores," says Pia Krauss, marketing manager of Selgros Cash & Carry Romania.