German retailer Rewe, which owns the Penny Market network in Romania, will open five Penny Market stores by the end of the year.

The supermarket network will reach 173 units, ten more than at the end of last year. The five new stores are located in Bucharest (2), Fetesti, Focsani, and Rovinari. Rewe Romania also owns eight XXL Mega Discount stores.

The German group also owns the Selgros Cash&Carry hypermarket network.

Rewe has recently signed an agreement with French group Carrefour for selling Billa Romania, which operates a network of 86 supermarkets.

Following this deal, Rewe announced that it would focus on developing its Penny Market discount store chain. The German group introduced the Penny Market concept in Romania in 2005.

Rewe's main competitors on the supermarket segment are local chain Profi, German retailer Lidl, and Belgian group Mega Image.

Last year, Rewe Romania had sales of EUR 521 million and over 3,000 employees. Selgros Cash&Carry had EUR 632 million in sales and close to 3,900 employees.

Billa Romania, on the other hand, had EUR 315 million in sales and 3,100 employees.

Diana Mesesan, diana@romania-insider.com