Interex due to arrive in Bucharest

Interex, the only retailer that is not present in Bucharest, plans to tap into the capital city, the most crowded domestic market, concentrating around a quarter of the total number of stores in modern retail, put at around EUR20 billion last year. The retailer is also changing its strategy, relying on smaller stores in central locations.

“We decided to open smaller stores, inside cities, as we saw people want convenience stores. Romanians now prefer shopping each day and buying products they need at that moment. Before, they used to go shopping only once for an entire week,” says Vassante Monany, commercial manager with Interex.

Interex, part of Groupement des Mousquetaires-ITM Enterprises French group, which owns 12 stores domestically, initially bet on areas of as much as 3,000 square meters, but it subsequently shifted to areas of around 1,000 square meters.

Interex opened the first store in 2002 in Ploiești and then entered cities around the country, from Satu Mare to Drobeta Turnu Severin, avoiding Bucharest, however.

While preferring not to specify the names of cities the company is likely to expand to, Monany “accidentally” mentions Bucharest. “In the capital city, we’ll go with small stores, of 1,000-1,200 square meters, mainly focusing on fresh products”.