Steilmann to open 9 stores in 2007

Steilmann Romania, one of the top five players on the textile market, will open nine stores this year, after the companyes expansion plans stagnated over the last few years. The first decision of the Italian group Miro Radici, which took over the Steilmann group internationally, was to relaunch the Steilmann brand through a strategy, which, this year, includes the opening of 28 stores in Eastern Europe. The development project of Steilmann Bukarest includes taking over the management of the Steilmann network of stores in the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, the Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, as well as increasing the number of stores in Eastern Europe from a current figure of 72, to 100 at the end of 2008. Plans of the Radici group also entail doubling the turnover of the Romanian branch by 2008 and a 10% profit margin. Steilmann currently owns 53 stores in Romania, and their number will increase by another 9 this year, each needing an investment of some 70,000 euros, according to the retail manager of Steilmann Bukarest, Flori Panescu.