Flexibility will be the chain’s most important advantage, according to Retail & More co-founder
Eight years after leaving the Bulgarian market, French chain Carrefour is back, opening two stores in Sofia in early 2024. The two Carrefour Market stores will replace the Parkmart brand in TZUM and g. “Mladost”, on ul. “Alexander Malinov”.
In 2023, Carrefour granted the rights for Bulgaria to the Greek company Retail & More, and Retail & More in turn granted subfranchising rights to the Bulgarian company Parkmart Holding. However, following the transformation of the eight Parkmart stores, Retail&More plans to open more of its own outlets under the Carrefour brand.
According to Vasilis Stasinoulias, co-founder and CEO of Retail & More, the future of Carrefour will differ from the brand’s previous presence in Bulgaria. “We will not invest in large formats as was done before. Our business model is much more flexible, we are relying on supermarkets and convenient neighbourhood stores like Carrefour Market and Carrefour Express,” Stasinoulias says. In addition to the two types of smaller stores, Carrefour plans to open a Supeco discounter, Carrefour Bio organic stores and an e-store in Bulgaria in the more distant future. All this variety of formats ensures that the French brand will remain flexible and adapt to the needs of the Bulgarian consumer.
Vassilis Stassinoulias has 20 years of experience in developing the Carrefour brand in Greece. And since he knows the competition in the Greek and other European markets well, he believes that Carrefour has every chance to position itself here as a responsible retailer offering quality food products at affordable prices.
