Belgian retailer Mega Image announced it will open nine new supermarkets and Shop&Go proximity shops this weekend, thus increasing its network to 401 units.

Mega Image accelerated the pace of new openings on the year-end, announcing a total of 40 new units in the last month. These included the 19 Angst shops which it bought earlier this year, and which were rebranded as Mega Image of Shop&Go.

Most of the shops are located in Bucharest, while the others are in Brasov, Constanta, Ploiesti, Brasov and Targoviste. The network is made of 194 Mega Image supermarkets, 205 Shop&Go proximity stores, a frozen food store, AB Cool Food, and a drive-in store, Mega Drive. Mega Image also inaugurated a new wine gallery within its supermarket in Bucuresti Mall.

Since the beginning of this year, Mega Image has opened 105 new units, managing to beat the record from 2013, when it opened 103 new stores. In 2012, Mega Image opened 88 new stores. Basically, three quarters of its network is made of stores opened in the last three years.

The strong expansion also helped the company strongly increase its sales, from about EUR 300 million in 2011 to EUR 394 million in 2012 and EUR 530 million in 2013. This year, its sales could pass EUR 700 million, if the growth rate from 2012 and 2013 remains unchanged (above 30%).

Mega Image is part of Belgian group Delhaize.

Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com