September 30 (SeeNews) - Discount retailer Plus, part of German group Tengelmann, will enter the Bulgarian market with the launch of six outlets in early October, local company Plus Bulgaria Trade said on Wednesday.
More store rollouts are planned for the remainder of the year, Plus Bulgaria Trade said in an invitation for a news conference scheduled for October 5 that will officially mark the first steps of the German retailer on the local market.
No further details were immediately available.
Plus Bulgaria Trade is currently advertising a number of vacancies on local online employment portal jobs.bg. It has listed store manager/deputy manager positions for outlets in the cities of Vratsa, Vidin and Provadia, cashier positions in Radnevo and Pazardjik, a position for a storage facility worker in Sliven and an opening for a handler of incoming goods in Burgas.
In early 2008, Plus said it plans to complete a 250 million euro ($365.4 million) investment in Bulgaria by 2011.
The main players on the Bulgarian retail market are Piccadilly, owned by Serbia's Delta Maxi, the local units of Slovenia's Mercator, France's Carrefour, Germany's Kaufland, Metro Cash & Carry, Lidl and HIT, and Lithuania's Maxima and smaller Bulgarian players like Fantastiko. No data is available on the market share of those retailers. Germany's Penny Market has also announced plans to enter the local market in 2009.
Tengelmann Group has Pan-European locations in 15 countries, almost 7,500 branches, 116,447 employees, and annual sales of almost 20 billion euro, according to data from its website.
($=0.6841 euro)