Carrefour expanded its partnership with Winmarkt

Carrefour Group has signed a new contract with the network Winmarkt to open another store in a shopping center in Ploiesti, after it opened this year Winmarkt 3 units in the network.

The first partnership between the two companies was signed in March and provided that the opening of 3 Carrefour shops in the Winmarkt shopping centers in Turda, Bistrita and Cluj, currently two of them being launched - in Turda and Bistrita.

Partnering with Winmarkt network provides a new perspective on a growing supermarket," said Andreea Mihai, marketing manager of Carrefour Romania.

The new Carrefour store will be opened by the end of 2009, the second supermarket of the French network in Prahova county. The unit will have an area of 1215 square meters, of which 905 sq.m. is for sale, and will create 40 jobs.

"This new collaboration comes as a natural thing after the success achieved so far with the opening of the two supermarkets in the Winmarkt network, which conducted in a substantial increase in traffic and attractiveness of our centers," said Alina Bescheret, commercial director Winmarkt.

A similar partnership was ended by discount retailer Minimax and Winmarkt network, which will ensure the presence of 4 malls in Buzau, Braila, Tulcea and Vaslui.

Winmarkt is a network of 15 shopping centers currently present in 13 cities in Romania. It was acquired last year by the Italian company Immobiliare Grande Distribuzione, in a deal for 182.5 million euros.

Carrefour Romania entered the supermarket segment in 2007 with the acquisition of Artima company, which owns 21 stores in western Romania. Carrefour has registered in Romania in the first half of sales of 532 million euros (including VAT), rising with 4.8% from the same period of last year.