Significant expansion by Fressnapf in South-East Europe

The opening of one of Fressnapf’s own stores on 7 September launches a series of 14 store openings in all that are to take place in Romania by the end of the year. Fressnapf’s first Romanian store has a retail area of 500 m² and is located in a shopping mall in the capital, Bucharest.

In the long term, the plan is to open up to 100 stores in the country in South-East Europe. With annual growth rates of between 10 and 15 per cent, Romania is one of the fastest-growing pet supplies markets in Europe. As well as adding 10 to 15 stores of its own each year, however, Fressnapf is growing in Romania through acquisitions. On 1 October it acquired eleven Super Zoo stores and their employees from the Czech Plaček Group (as already reported by PET worldwide). Six stores have already opened and are gradually being converted to Fressnapf stores, while five are to open in the next few years. They are being created in line with the company’s Future-Store-Konzept 2.0. In addition to the usual range, Romanian brands are also expected to account for 10 to 15 per cent of the assortment. Fressnapf’s expansion in Romania will be concentrated primarily on the larger cities in the country such as Bucharest, ClujNapoca and Timisoara, but the online shop and the company’s cross-channel ecosystem are also expected to be established in Romania. “We are delighted to have found great locations for Fressnapf and to have launched in Romania. The acquisition of the stores and employees from Super Zoo and its proprietor Dušan Plaček is also a real gain for the market leadership we are striving for in Romania,” says Fressnapf owner Torsten Toeller.

The business in Romania will be run on a decentralised basis via the subsidiary in Hungary, where the country manager is Dániel Kisgergely. A similar model is already operated by the store chain in Austria and Switzerland, where the previously separate subsidiaries were merged to form an Alpine Region partner alliance with a joint management team and headquarters. In Romania itself, around 100 new jobs are expected to be created by the end of 2022. No details have been disclosed regarding the level of investment in expansion or the purchase of the Super Zoo locations.