Mobexpert targets commercial clusters

Commercial clusters, namely various stores operating on a large platform, generally located in the outskirts of cities, are a common sight in the West, but are also beginning to appear in Bucharest. After the Militari-based Carrefour attracted, besides the hypermarket, different brands such as Bricostore and Mobexpert, it is now the turn of another French company – Cora, to do the same, in the Granitul-Pantelimon area of Bucharest.

Romanian group Mobexpert was the first to take this opportunity, as it opened its third large store in Bucharest, near the Cora hypermarket on Friday, under an investment worth 6 million euros.

“Our company, but also the other firms that will open stores here, have invested more than initially scheduled. Our store is 20% bigger than the one we opened near Carrefour Militari, but this space is almost ideal, in terms of location, traffic and available space,” said Dan Viorel Sucu, president of the Mobexpert group.

Cora officials also back the idea. “It’s only been a month since Cora opened for business and we already had 1.8 million visitors, which is great value for us,” said Regis Mougel, general manager of Cora Romania. As a comparison, the first hypermarket opened in mid-2001 by Carrefour was visited by one million people in the first two months, according to statements made two years ago.

Increasingly more stores will open in the Granitul-Pantelimon complex, as Mobexpert Pantelimon will be shortly followed by a bricolage store to be opened by French group Bresson, which already holds a similar unit in the Carrefour Militari complex.

Mobexpert Pantelimon, which spreads on 12,000 square metres, is the third large store operated by the furniture group in Bucharest. The first such store, Mobexpert Pipera, was opened in 2001 and cost 20 million euros. Mobexpert Pipera is chiefly aimed at the city’s northern area. Mobexpert Militari opened this summer, following a 5m-euro investment and targets the western sector of Bucharest.

ionut.bonoiu@zf.ro