Romanian furniture retailer Casa Rusu announced the opening of a new shop in Bucharest, in the cora Alexandriei shopping gallery, which is owned by French hypermarket chain cora. The shop has a surface of 1,000 sqm and will be officially opened on Friday, October 17, 2014. The investment in the new shop was EUR 400,000.

Casa Rusu opened its first shop in a shopping gallery owned by cora in Constanta, in 2013. The two retailers are planning to continue this partnership with another Casa Rusu shop in the cora’s shopping gallery in Bacau, which will be opened next year.

Casa Rusu is one of the largest furniture retailers on the local market. The company, which is owned by Romanian entrepreneur Cristian Rusu operates 28 furniture shops in Romania and last year had a turnover of EUR 11.9 million. The company has about 200 employees.

Casa Rusu is the retail company for furniture producer Rus Savitar, which now has three furniture factories in Romania and 410 employees. The producer had a turnover of EUR 15.8 million, in 2013, according to data from the Finance Ministry.

Casa Rusu’s main competitors on the Romanian furniture market are Mobexpert group, owned by Romanian businessman Dan Sucu, Elvila, owned by Romanian businessman Viorel Catarama, Lemet, which is owned by the Rizea family, and international retailers such as IKEA and Kika.

Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com