October 31 (SeeNews) - Austrian furniture retailer Kika said on Wednesday it will invest some 50 million euro ($72 million) to open its first three retail units in EU newcomer Romania.
Kika will open its first Romanian outlet in the capital Bucharest next autumn, to be followed by two more in Timisoara and Oradea in 2009, the Austrian firm said in a statement.
Kika plans to open a total of eight stores, employing 1,000, over the next five years in Romania. The outlets will cover an area of between 10,000 and 20,000 square metres each.
Romania joined the EU in January.
Kika also plans to enter the Serbian market next year, a spokeswoman for Kika told SeeNews but did not elaborate.
In central and eastern Europe Kika (www.kika.at ) is already present on the markets of Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovaki and Croatia.
($ = 0.6922 euro)