Crisis wipes out 7,000 stores and restaurants off retail map

Almost 7,200 stores, pharmacies and restaurants have vanished from the map of modern retail against the end of 2008, so that the entire universe of retail, reaching 20bn-euro turnover this year, has shrunk to a little below 84,000 locations, according to MEMRB research company.

Romanian retail is entering the fourth quarter of this year with 2,850 stores fewer than at the start of the year, after in 2009, the number of “disappearances” topped 4,300 locations, shows MEMRB survey.
The hardest hit by the financial crisis were traditional retail players. At the opposite end, modern retail made, beside pet shops, the segment whose store universe expanded in 2008-2010.
Thus, in 2008 there were 731 stores belonging to modern retail, and in the third quarter of 2010 their number topped 1,000 units on a market set to go beyond 7bn euros this year, according to ZF estimates.
The domestic retail market is put at 20bn euros this year, 2bn euros less than last year.