Lidl retailer targets 100 stores

German group Lidl&Schwarz has decided to resume plans for the development of a Lidl discount network in Romania. After initially postponing its entry onto the Romanian market, the company now intends to invest around 150 million euros in over 100 stores by 2011. In May last year, the group’s management decided to indefinitely postpone its plans to enter the Romanian and Bulgarian markets due to excessive land prices. “We decided to bring our Lidl store network to Romania after all, because the market here has a very big potential, allowing for about 150 stores to be developed under the Lidl brand. We have already started negotiations to acquire land, and we estimate the number of shopping centres will reach 100 in the next five years”, sources from Lidl Romania told the MEDIAFAX agency. According to our own sources, the company’s strategy targets both big cities and small towns with a few tens of thousands of inhabitants. The first network store is expected to open in around two years’ time.