Page 23 - PET worldwide issue 04/2022

annual growth rates of between striving for in Romania,” says since May of this year. The Fress- Fressnapf’s first Romanian
10 and 15 per cent, Romania is Fressnapf owner Torsten Toeller. napf Group is involved in invest- store is in Bucharest and has
2
one of the fastest-growing pet sup- ment there in stationary expansion a retail area of 500 m .
plies markets in Europe. As well as Management in Croatia and potentially in Slo-
adding 10 to 15 stores of its own from Hungary venia, Serbia and Bulgaria. Four
each year, however, Fressnapf is The business in Romania will be Super Zoo stores in Croatia were
growing in Romania through ac- run on a decentralised basis via also acquired on 1 September,
quisitions. On 1 October it ac- the subsidiary in Hungary, where one of which is already open.
quired eleven Super Zoo stores the country manager is Dániel Kis- Looking ahead, Unconditional
and their employees from the gergely. A similar model is already has plans under the stewardship
Czech Placˇek Group (as already operated by the store chain in Aus- of company owner Edvard Varda
reported by PET worldwide). Six tria and Switzerland, where the to open ten further branches in
stores have already opened and previously separate subsidiaries Croatia by the end of 2022 and
are gradually being converted to were merged to form an Alpine Re- to widen its network to more than
Fressnapf stores, while five are to gion partner alliance with a joint 35 stores. Here also, no informa-
open in the next few years. They management team and headquar- tion has been released regarding
are being created in line with the ters. In Romania itself, around the level of investment. n
company’s Future-Store-Konzept 100 new jobs are expected to
2.0. In addition to the usual range, be created by the end of 2022.
Romanian brands are also ex- No details have been disclosed
pected to account for 10 to 15 regarding the level of investment
per cent of the assortment. Fress- in expansion or the purchase of
napf’s expansion in Romania will the Super Zoo locations.
be concentrated primarily on the There are now over 1 700
larger cities in the country such as Fressnapf and Maxi Zoo stores
Bucharest, ClujNapoca and Tim- across Europe in eleven coun-
isoara, but the online shop and tries, along with major holdings
the company’s cross-channel eco- in the Arcaplanet Group in Italy
system are also expected to be (500 stores) and the Uncon-
established in Romania. “We are ditional Group in Croatia (30
delighted to have found great lo- stores).
cations for Fressnapf and to have
launched in Romania. The acquisi- Expansion extends
tion of the stores and employees to Croatia
from Super Zoo and its proprietor In Croatia, a strong partnership
Dušan Placˇek is also a real gain with the Unconditional group of The sales team of the new store together with Fressnapf proprietor Torsten
for the market leadership we are companies has been in place Toeller (left) and country manager Dániel Kisgergely (right).

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