Metro Cash & Carry to expand to mountain regions

The development of tourism in the mountain areas of Romania, a result of increased investments in hotels and restaurants, could prompt Metro Cash & Carry to expand its network to mountain regions within the next few years, states Fran’ois Oliver, general manager of Metro Cash & Carry Romania. “It is only natural for us to be looking for any opportunity that could arise on the Romanian market. Things are developing extremely quickly in Romania and we want to be the first to establish ourselves in areas with high potential,” says Oliver. In 2004 Metro Cash & Carry strengthened its position in two key tourist areas by opening stores in Constanta and Brasov. The company could now focus on expanding to Valea Jiului (Jiu Valley) or Valea Oltului (Olt Valley), where there is a lack of cash & carry stores. Hotels, restaurants and catering firms are among the category of customers using cash & carry stores followed by resellers (merchants). In Romania the Metro Cash & Carry network saw sales of 1.43 billion-euros last year, an increase of 15% against 2005, according to the financial report made by the German group Metro. The last store to open was in Arad in 2005 closely followed by the re-location of the Metro Cash & Carry store from Otopeni to Baneasa. Metro Cash & Carry, which is part of the Metro Group, holds 23 stores on the local market. In 2006, the Germany-based company also brought the first of its Real hypermarket division onto the market, which at present has a total of 9 stores.