DIY retailer Praktiker reopens four stores in Romania after EUR 1.6 mln upgrade

DIY retailer Praktiker, owned by Turkish investor Omer Susli, reopened four of its stores after investing EUR 1.6 million in upgrading them. The stores are located in Bucharest’s Militari area, Cluj-Napoca, Iasi, and Timisoara. The company started refurbishing its stores at the beginning of this year. The first Praktiker store revamped under the new concept was the one in Vitan, in Bucharest, which reopened in July. Redecorating each store represents an investment of EUR 400,000, said Isabelle Pleska, Praktiker Romania general director. The remodeling process will continue with other Praktiker locations, and will apply to the entire network until the end of 2017. Praktiker has a network of 27 stores in 23 cities in the country. In 2015 the retailers’ sales slightly went up by 3.2% to EUR 136.6 million. Turkish Romanian investor Omer Susli bought the DIY store network from German group Praktiker in 2014. The company’s main competitors are Romanian retailer Dedeman, French group Leroy Merlin, and British group Kingfisher, which owns the BricoDepot store network in Romania. editor@romania-insider.com