Benetton opens First Megastore in Rumania.

Almost 200 outlets in Eastern Europe

Bucharest, 12 May 1997. Benetton’s first megastore in Rumania opens its doors today in Bucharest’s Calea Victoria, one of the capital’s main shopping streets. The high-profile building formerly housed a well-known company selling children’s clothing and toys. It offers approximately 600 square metres of floor space, where the public will be able to buy the full range of the latest United Colors of Benetton, 012, Zerotondo, Undercolors and Sisley collections together with accessories and footwear. As well as restructuring the interior, large sums have been spent on restoring the facade of the building and street-level arcade.
Benetton’s new flagship store in Bucharest is the latest addition to the Group’s world-wide sales network. As well as traditional outlets, this includes multi-product megastores of the kind already established in Barcelona, London (Benetton’s largest store), New York, San Francisco, Riyadh and, in Eastern Europe, Budapest, Prague and Moscow. The Moscow outlet, selling the Sisley brand, was opened last December in the prestigious, centrally-located premises of the former GUM department store. Highly successful from a commercial point of view, these stores are also places for people to gather and meet friends. They highlight the image of Benetton, not only as a world-wide clothing business, but as promoter of an open, international lifestyle.

Benetton first ventured into Rumania in 1992, with a spacious store in the main square of Brasov, which sells the United Colors of Benetton and 012 lines. Last December, the Group also opened a 012 outlet in the commercial gallery of the Sofitel Hotel, near the World Trade Organisation headquarters where many foreign embassies are concentrated. The Rumanian economy experienced rapid growth last year and Benetton has been enjoying an ongoing success there. This is partly the result of the Group’s policy of offering a quality Italian fashion collection at highly competitive prices.

Benetton now has outlets throughout Eastern Europe and the network is growing steadily. Today there are almost 200 stores, in Estonia, the Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Latvia, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, the former Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), the Czech and Slovak Republics, Poland, Bosnia, Lithuania and Macedonia.

 

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Benetton opens First Megastore in Rumania.