Gabriel Carlig bets on Romania and Italy with a plan for 25 Jolidon stores

Gabriel Carlig (photo), the businessman who set up Jolidon lingerie producer, has outlined an expansion plan including around 25 stores for this year, with 10 of these to be opened in Italy, and the rest in Romania. “The number is not as large as the one we had projected half a year ago, but this is also happening because we no longer see massive openings of shopping centres. Moreover, we are also more closely analysing opportunities of entering certain retail spaces,” stated Gabriel Carlig, Jolidon founder. He says investments per store range between 30,000 and 70,000 euros, depending on store location. “The store network means the direct relationship with final consumers and secures part of cash flow. This is the reason why we are expanding further. In the next two months, we’ll open four stores, two in Bucharest (Militari Shopping Center and Grand Arena), one in Pitesti and one in Craiova,” said Olga Stanciu, deputy manager of Jolidon. Carlig counts on brand strengthening and not on attracting new companies. “At the moment, what matters is not buying, but how the market reacts to you after you make an acquisition. Whereas in Romania there are no store chains we can look at, abroad there are more opportunities, the more so as values have dropped. However, we have enough brands and we want to focus on consolidation,” states Carlig. Jolidon group generated turnover worth almost 31m euros in 2008 and has budgeted 10-15% growth for this year, to as much as 36m euros.