Flamingo closes its biggest store in central Bucharest

Flamingo International, a retailer of IT, electronics products and home appliances, will close the store it owns in Bucharest, in the Piata Universitatii area, with plans to sell the 1,200 square metre space. Company representatives said the decision to close the store is part of the restructuring and reorganisation campaign of the retail network. “There are two possible reasons for closing a store. Either the lease contract has expired and the new lease renders the store unprofitable, or the stores are no longer profitable because the traffic has moved away from the area. Apparently, in this case, the area no longer registers the required traffic flow,” said Dragos Simion, vice-president of the company. Simion did not specify the sale value of the 1,200 square metre commercial space, nor a potential buyer. The purchasing price per one square metre of street retail space in the Universitatii area ranges from 3,000 euros to 6,000 euros, according to representatives of the real estate consulting company Eurisko, therefore the minimum sales value of the store will exceed 3.6 million euros. The company is also to sell its offices in the Otopeni area over the course of next year, which will be relocated to the Baneasa area.