Colloseum shopping center opens in September with new Carrefour and first Leroy Merlin store

French retailer Carrefour will open a new hypermarket in Bucharest, within the Colloseum shopping center in the Romanian capital city in September this year. This will be Carrefour's eight hypermarket in Bucharest and the 24th in the country. The Carrefour hypermarket will cover 8,000 sqm and will be part of the first stage of the Colloseum project, north of Bucharest. Carrefour is also planning to continue the expansion with a hypermarket in Botosani in October this year. The shopping park, which aims to become the biggest in Europe, according to its developers, with a total area of 190,000 sqm when finalized, is located on Chitila St. in Bucharest. The total investment in the shopping center project is of EUR 350 million. The first phase of the project, the 53,000 sqm retail park, will include the Carrefour unit, an Altex store, as well as the first Leroy Merlin do-it-yourself store in Romania. The developers of the project, Nova Imobiliare, plan a second stage of the project, of 137,000 sqm, with a shopping mall, food court, cinema, which should be ready in 2013. The project will feature underground car infrastructure and dedicated bus and tram lines, according to Panico Panayi, director of Nova Imobiliare. editor@romania-insider.com