Local media: Hugo Boss closes stores in Romania on lower sales

Luxury brand Hugo Boss, present on the local market through a franchise, will close its two stores in Romania by the end of February this year, reports local daily Ziarul Financiar. The two Romanian entrepreneurs that brought the Hugo Boss franchise on the Romanian market, namely Andrei Alecu and Adrian Matei, have decided not to extend the contract anymore as the stores’ sales dropped 10 percent in each of the last two years. “The contract with Hugo Boss has expired and we decided not to renew it for two reasons. First, if we accept to renew it, Hugo Boss representatives were asking us to revamp the stores and this process needed an investment of some EUR 800,000. Secondly, sales began to drop since 2011, a decline of 10 percent,” said Alecu, quoted by Ziarul Financiar. The two mono-brand stores opened in Romania under the brand Hugo Boss had total sales of some EUR 1.2 million in 2012. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com (photo from www.caps-architects.com)