7m-euro Praktiker in Craiova

The DIY store chain Praktiker held by the German Metro Grup will open a new store in Craiova on November 25, following a 7 million euro investment. The store covers 6,000 square metres, has 120 employees and is the tenth Praktiker on the Romanian market. Although it had initially anticipated it would open only three stores this year, namely in Constanta, Oradea and Craiova, the German network announced that it would be opening a new store in Arad in mid December. The company invests an average of 7-8 million euros for each store opened and announced early this year that its investment budget for the Romanian market was of 35 million euros. Gunter Vosskaemper, general manager of Praktiker Romania announced early this year that sales in 2005 would register a 60 million euro growth, mainly thanks to the opening of new stores. The German DIY network last year made more than 63 million euro sales, an increase of 45 million euros from 2003. Praktiker opened its first Romanian store, close to the Metro cash & carry store in Voluntari, in the autumn of 2002. It has been opening 3 stores a year ever since, with its stated target being 15 such stores. ZF