Polish sportswear retailer, 50 Style, opened in October its first store in Romania, in Bucharest’s Iris Shopping Center, Titan area, on a surface of 315 sqm. Its entry on the local market confirms the real estate consultancy company’s, Colliers International Romania's, view of the Polish brands’ goal to expand in the Eastern European region, especially in Romania, where consumption has steadily increased in recent years.
The number of Polish retailers has grown rapidly in recent times, therefore, in Romania as well, these brands have more ambitious expansion plans than others already present here. The variety of products they offer goes from fashion and footwear to sportswear and sports products, fitting into all price ranges.
“The very good coverage Polish brands enjoy in their home market, alongside Poland being a top performer in the EU, has allowed them to seek other markets with strong potential in Eastern Europe. With a very good position, Romania is the second largest market in the region, similar to the Polish one, with high consumption sustained by wage growth, and where Polish brands have already established a strong presence on the fashion market and not only. All of these factors have created the perfect context for a player like 50 Style to join the other brands already present here”, Brindusa Grama, Associate Retail Agency at Colliers International Romania said.
50 Style is part of the Polish group Marketing Investment Group and has over 140 shops in Poland and Lithuania. Recently, the retailer has also entered the Hungarian market.
“Romania is growing very fast and the dynamics of the market stand out from the entire CEE region. Despite the still short presence, the reception of our brands in Romania is very good, which confirms our belief that this appetite is strongly justified. Not without significance is the size of the country and valuable potential, which does not focus only on the capital, but also covers other large centres - such as Timisoara, Constanta, Cluj-Napoca, Craiova or Iasi. We also see great opportunities in smaller cities, from which the retail industry gives us positive signals about the strength of their potential. Romania is one of our development goals in the coming years, both for Sizeer and 50style. In addition, we focus on covering markets on which we are already present, including Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary”, Rafał Pierzchniak, International Leasing Manager at 50 Style, added.
In addition to 50 Style, the Marketing Investment Group also includes Sizeer, a multi-brand chain store for sportswear. On the Romanian market, Sizeer has already opened 3 stores since the beginning of 2018, with Colliers International Romania having advised the three leasing transactions in the shopping centres Sun Plaza, Mega Mall and Parklake.
Among the expanding Polish brands we see LPP group as well, which has brought five brands in Romania - Reserved, Sinsay, Mohito, Cropp and House – and which has leased, as advised by Colliers, 22,100 sqm in a project that is currently being developed by the Belgian company WDP in Stefanestii de Jos, Ilfov County, to support the Polish group's e-commerce activities. Other existing brands are Pepco, with 204 stores open nationwide, CCC with over 50 stores and 4F with 4 stores.
