Artima sticks with the West

Artima supermarket chain held by businessman Florentin Banu, the mastermind behind the Joe wafer brand, will see its ninth store open next month. With 15 million-euro sales this year, Banu has no plans to take his stores to Bucharest. “We opened store no. 8 of our chain in Baia Mare this October. This is a 1,200 sqm net commercial area store. We used this concept for the north of Transilvania, that is Maramures. However, we do not intend to expand to the East or South of the country. We are somehow sticking to our investment region,” Florentin Banu, Artima general manager said. He added the ninth store would be opened in Petrosani in December. “We are among the handful of new buildings in Petrosani since the Revolution (December 1989). We do not know for sure what lies in store for us over there. The thing is we’re clearly trailblazing in that area,” Banu said. He added sales this year would reach 15 million euros, up from the 9.5 million euros last year. “Sales in the first 10 months show we are on target,” Banu says. The company lost more than 600,000 euros last year. ZF