Book business making a comeback

The Diverta store chain held by businessman Octavian Radu will expand by 15 new shops over the next two or three months, with investments estimated to reach several million dollars.
Diverta last year sold approximately 12 million euros’ worth, that is 30% more than in 2001. The chain manager, Eusebiu Vasilescu said the most spectacular increase was posted by books (over 60%) and music. “Many people are buying books again, because civilised trade is making a comeback,” Vasilescu said. He added the main reasons for Diverta’s improved performance in 2002 were the growth of the already existing shops and the opening of new ones. Diverta operates 58 shops in 30 cities.
The Diverta official says the investment in opening a Diverta shop is very much up to the city in which it is located and its size.
“The shops are going better and better, therefore the more shops the better the business for us, but we cannot possibly know what kind of space we will find. We estimate to have 200 shops opened in the next few years. We will generally operate in malls and other shopping centres, because we invest (…) where we should invest,” Vasilescu added.
The Diverta shops were dedicated by the RTC Group in 2001, following the merger of the two already existing store chains, OfficeNet and @Litera. The start-up investment amounted to approximately 8 million DM (some $4 million at that time). Although the two chains had originally been designed to have a distinct personality, they later came to engage in overlapping activities (such as office supplies), which prompted the management to merge them into a single chain. The company representatives are planning to turn Diverta into a brand specific to the Romanian market, for which reason they hired the Tempo advertising agency to handle this strategy.
RTC at the end of 2002 took over the Mediacom chain planning to convert the shops into Divertas, Octavian Radu said. The Diverta shops offer about 50,000 items including books, music, computers, phones and office supplies.