Crisis eats into retail sales

Sales of the top three groups in Romanian retail, Metro, Rewe, and Carrefour, went down last year, although shareholders invested 200 million euros in expansion and added another 93,000 square metres to the area of modern food retail.

The biggest drop was recorded by cash & carry (wholesale) commerce – which supplies restaurants and convenience stores. The two cash & carry chains, Metro and Selgros, reported the same rate of decline for sales in euros, of 17% against 2008.

The only chains in the ranking that achieved sales growth were Real Hypermarket and Penny Market – the only discount chain in the top. Whilst the 7% rise in Penny Market’s turnover can be explained by the booming sales of cheap products, Real was helped by expansion, with the company having opened 4 hypermarkets in the course of last year.