The expansion of modern retail networks will bring a new situation onto the domestic market, as Carrefour prepares to join Real at the same retail park in Sibiu.

Carrefour, the most powerful hypermarket network in Romania, will open its first store in Sibiu within the European Retail Park project and join Real hypermarket, which covers 11,600 square metres.

"An area of 12,500 square metres has already been pre-rented to Carrefour and other spaces that cover 10,000 square metres are already in retailers' hands," reads a report by Oriel Securities firm, a partner of UK's North Real Estate Opportunities Fund, which owns the retail park in Sibiu.

Polish developer Echo Investment, which is listed on the Warsaw stock exchange, with a capitalisation of around one billion euros, will invest approximately 300 million euros in developing office projects and shopping centres within the next few years. Adrian Karczewicz, business development director of Echo Investment, believes Bucharest's precarious infrastructure will prompt real estate developers to erect office buildings close to underground stations, in order to ensure easy access for future employees. Most office buildings under development in the capital are in the Northern part of Bucharest, where Pipera is the only underground station. However, the continuous northward expansion has prompted real estate developers to build projects without access to a transportation network, which has caused traffic to become increasingly busy.

Romanian companies generated total turnover worth 165 billion euros last year, up 22% against the value registered in 2005, with total profit reaching almost 15 billion euros, up 36% against the previous year.
The profit margin stood at 9.3%, compared with 8.3% in 2005, while overall work productivity stood at almost 43,000 euros per employee, up 19% against last year's level, according to a survey conducted by the National Council of Small and Medium-Sized Private Enterprises in Romania (CNIPMMR), based on the balance sheets registered with the Ministry of Finance.

"These results are commendable, they show there's a certain spirit in the economy, the Romanian entrepreneurial spirit," said Florin Pogonaru, chairman of the Romanian Business People's Association.

The Do-It-Yourself store network Mr. Bricolage will open two stores in Pitesti and Bucharest next year, which were initially scheduled to open in 2007, with the expansion depending on the plans of the developers with whom the company work. Brico Expert, which holds the licence for Mr. Bricolage stores in Romania, already owns some of the plots of land for the planned expansion within the next two years. By 2010, the network will reach a total of 8 stores in Romania. "The plots of land were acquired just before the real estate boom. On the Romanian real estate market, I don't think there is a limit to how much land prices can increase," said Tudor Profir, general manager of the Mr. Bricolage network in Romania. The company will invest 21 million euros to inaugurate three stores next year. One of these will be located in an independent location, in the town of Pitesti, and another in a retail park in the Capital. All home improvement networks present on the Romanian market have announced expansion plans for next year. Austrian company BauMax, which entered the market in 2006, will witness the fastest expansion, having scheduled 5 new stores per year, until 2010. This year has seen the entry of another retailer, German-based Hornbach, which has a larger store format and has a sales surface area of 16,000 square metres.