While the Swedish furniture brand IKEA is being impatiently awaited in Bulgaria, the Romanian furniture and decoration leader Mobexpert Group entered the local market.
Mobexpert has recently opened its first hypermarket in Bulgaria, in Sofia's Lyulin housing estate, where 80 pct of the items are Romania-made and 20 pct are Italian. The investment in the new 11,000-sq m store is 10 mln euro, 80 pct of which are bank loans. The investment is expected to return in the third year of the store's opening. The store sells Mobexpert's two brands, namely Mobexpert and Mobexpert Office, and employs 120. This has been the largest Romanian investment in Bulgaria so far. The cumulative Romanian investments in the country are estimated at 65 mln euro. Mobexpert is planning to open a further two hypermarkets in Bulgaria, within shopping malls, and to hold a 15 to 18 pct share of the Bulgarian furniture market within the next four years.
The new hypermarket is the largest outlet of the Romanian furniture industry abroad. Romanian Prime Minister Kalin Popesku-Tariceanu came on an unofficial visit to Bulgaria to mark the occasion. "Romania has traditions in the furniture production. It is among the top three countries in Central and Eastern Europe, along with Poland and the Czech Republic, while Bulgaria ranks sixth at the best," officials of Bulgaria's Branch Chamber of Woodworking and Furniture industry (BCWFI) explained.
"Currently, the furniture sold in Bulgaria are either quite cheap or quite expensive. And our response is in the middle - our furniture is both of good quality and at affordable prices," Mobexpert Group's president Dan Sucu explained. Sucu asserts that the Mobexpert prices are almost the same in Romania and Bulgaria.
Sucu declared that the major rivals in Bulgaria could be seen around, in Lyulin, where Bulgarian furniture retailers Aiko and Labirint hold stores. They deal mainly in Bulgarian furniture and are currently expanding their stores and chains. Polish furniture Aron is also present there. In Sofia there are also stores of Como which defines itself as the Austrian IKEA.
According to BCWFI head, Genoveva Hristova, there is a trend towards distinguishing the furniture production from the retailing in Bulgaria. Bulgaria-made furniture are of the mid-price bracket, while the high-end bracket is dominated by Italian Selamore, Nido, Interios, Sfera and Gama Design, according to Hristova.
No exact data about the Bulgarian furniture market are available, but it grows by at least 10 pct annually, according to BCWFI. It is known that the local furniture production growth is between 17.5 pct to 18 pct. Out of it, 55 pct are intended for exports and 45 pct go for the domestic market. The domestic sales share is increasing mainly because of the brisk construction of hotels and office buildings.
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IKEA on the road to Plovdiv?
The Bulgarian store of IKEA, which, according to the plans should open in June 2008, will be located on the highway to Plovdiv. This was reported by a Bulgarian enterprise which is a distributor of the world's largest furniture trader. There is an allegation that the land plot is already being purchased. From Jenko, the Bulgarian arm of Greek Fourlis Group which has an agreement with Inter IKEA for building stores in Bulgaria, refused to comment. At the same time, Forum Sofia AD also offers shelter to IKEA. The company was recently certified as a first-class investor for its mall project in Mladost 4 housing estate, scheduled to open in 2009. One of the shareholders, Multi Development, has an agreement with IKEA for Turkey.
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Mobexpert Group, with 4,500 employees, reported revenues of 160 mln euro for 2006. There are four Mobexpert brand hypermarkets in Bucharest and one in Brasov, as well as 27 stores in Romania, and already one in Bulgaria. Mobexpert Office is a furniture brand for offices and public establishments. The group holds majority stakes in 10 furniture factories, five companies for exports and logistics, and in a real estate company. It exports to France, Germany, the Netherlands and other countries.
22-28/09/07, P69
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