French group Carrefour will open on March 1 the first store from the Billa network, which has been remodeled and rebranded under the Carrefour brand.

It will be located in the Liberty Center mall, in the Bucharest neighborhood Rahova, reports local Ziarul Financiar.

By the end of the year, the Billa brand will disappear from the local market, according to the agreement between Carrefour and Rewe group, which owned the Billa supermarket chain until the end of 2015. At a total of 80 stores, Carrefour could reopen 8-10 units per month.

French group Carrefour took over the Billa network in Romania in December 2015 in a deal worth almost EUR 100 million. The Competition Council approved the deal last summer under certain conditions. Carrefour then announced that it would transform all the Billa stores and the brand will disappear from the market this year. The stores will operate under the Carrefour brand.

editor@romania-insider.com