French Group Carrefour and Romanian Angst, controlled by Romanian businessman Sorin Minea, have recently opened the first Carrefour Express store under franchise.  The Carrefour Express Domenii opened on October 12 on Ion Mihalache Blvd. in Bucharest. The new store has a sales area of 390 sqm, 7,000 products and about 40 employees. The store also retains the name of Angst in its branding. 

“In a difficult period, in 2011, Carrefour restarted the expansion and starts being active on the franchise segment, showing its great confidence in this country,” said Francois Melchior de Polignac, general manager of Carrefour Romania.

Carrefour currently runs a network of 23 hypermarkets and 39 supermarkets under the Carrefour Market logo. Carrefour entered Romania in 2001 with its hypermarket format.

The Angst store network is currently made of 27 units and posted a turnover of EUR 43.9 million last year and a mere profit of EUR 11,900, according to data from the Finance Ministry.  The chain’s profit has been going down for the last couple of years in a row.

Retailer Carrefour posted a growth of 7.5 percent in sales in Romania in the third quarter of this year, up to EUR 290 million, according to the company. In the first nine months of this year, Carrefour recorded an increase of 5.1 percent compared to the same period last year, to EUR 845 million, at current exchange rates.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(photo source: the company)