Lidl looks towards Bucharest for expansion

German discount store chain Lidl, which is getting ready to open its first stores in Romania, is looking at the Bucharest market, where discounters are not that well represented at the moment. According to the recent recruitment ads posted by the company, Lidl wants to assemble a team to handle expansion in the capital, and could even open stores in the towns around the city. In Bucharest, where modern retail has reached almost 70% of the consumer goods market, discount store chains number of less than 20 stores, and the largest such chain is Albinuta, 8 stores. Profi, the retailer that took over Albinuta from VP Market last year will soon introduce the Profi stores on the market, but is not planning an aggressive expansion any time soon. The battle in Bucharest is fought on the hypermarket front. Data supplied by GFK market research company shows that discount stores accounted for 4% of the consumer goods sector in Bucharest in the first nine months of 2007, compared with 38% – the hypermarket share and 22% – the supermarket share. On the other hand, discount store chains are very active in medium and small cities of Romania.