Austrian furniture retailer kika opens second store in Bucharest

Austrian furniture retailer kika will open its second store in Romania by the end of this year. The store will be located in Eastern Bucharest, on Theodor Pallady Boulevard, on the site of the former Obi do-it-yourself store. The retailer finalized the acquisition of the former Obi store at the beginning of September and will invest EUR 14 million in setting up the new unit, which should be opened in December this year. kika’s main competitor, Swedish retailer IKEA, will also open its second store in Bucharest on Theodor Pallady Boulevard. However, the new IKEA store will open at the end of 2018 as the construction hasn’t even started yet. kika’s new store will have 12,000 sqm including the warehouse, and a large parking lot. It will create some 80 new jobs. The Austrian retailer entered the Romanian market in December 2018, when it opened its first store, in Bucharest West Park. The company has seen its local business grow in recent years, reaching sales of over EUR 15 million per year. In February, kika launched its online store kika.ro. The group also plans to open new stores in other big cities in Romania, in the near future. editor@romania-insider.com