KIKA hires 1,000 staff in 8 stores

KIKA, an Austrian retailer of furniture and interior decorations, is expected to reach at least 1,000 employees on the Romanian market within the next five years, and plans to open eight stores in Romania within this timeframe. “The KIKA team is currently taking shape, and includes less than 10 people, but their number is constantly growing, and will soon reach around 100 employees,” said Alexandru Creanga, country manager of KIKA Romania. KIKA will open its first store in Romania, in Bucharest, in the autumn of 2008, with the other two stores, in Timisoara and Oradea, scheduled to open in 2009. According to Creanga, the launch date for the provincial stores will largely depend on how soon the necessary permits are secured. The investment in the first three locations will amount to 50 million euros, granted by Immoconsult, the real estate leasing division of Investkredit Bank, in August. Creanga did not wish to specify the value of sales forecast for the company’s first year on this market. However, he did say that KIKA’s target is to become the market leader shortly after entering a new market, a situation that occurred in both Hungary and Croatia.