According to Kathimerini newspaper, three Greek companies, Jumbo, Folli Follie and Fourlis, remained unaffected by the six-year recession, planning to open new stores in the Balkans. Folli Follie group has a long standing presence in the Romanian market, in the wholesale and retail distribution of clothing and footwear. Next September, the company will open its first store in Baneasa “shopping village” operated by LT Apparel Romania, a partnership venture between the LT Apparel group and Folli Follie. LT Apparel maintains 15 sales points in Greece and Monaco. The Greek company is also planning to invest in a department store in downtown Bucharest, on a property already owned by Elmec. The total investment for the project amounts to 5 million euros for the total reconstruction of the six-storey building. The project will be ready in 2015, and will house the department store group in Romania, which has a wide range of Folli Follie Group brands, while the rest of the building will be leased to other companies as offices. After its expansion in the Romanian market in the fall of 2013, with two stores in Bucharest and Timisoara, Jumbo group will proceed with the opening of new stores. Jumbo management aims to operate 12-18 stores in Romania in the next five years. It is estimated that during the first phase of development by 2016, the group could obtain a sales volume of around 37 million euros. Fourlis group, through a joint venture with Danaos, owned by the shipowner Yiannis Koustas, is expanding in Bulgaria with new stores in the Sofia Ring Mall, which opens in September 4. The Sofia Ring Mall will host Bulgaria’s first Ikea store, which is represented in Greece by Fourlis group.
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