Update: Auchan officially announces the opening of two shopping malls in Bucharest

Newsroom 09/02/2012 | 11:11

French retailer Auchan, who runs 9 hypermarkets in Romania, has officially announced that it will invest in developing two shopping malls in Romania between 2012 and 2013.

The first shopping mall will be located in the Giulesti neighborhood on a piece of land purchased from the Grantmetal factory and could be opened by the end of December following a EUR 15 million investment, according to media reports. The project will include a 5,000 sqm Auchan City hypermarket and a 2,000 sqm shopping gallery.

The second project will be built in the Ghencea neighborhood on the grounds of the Tricodava industrial platform and will feature an Auchan City hypermarket with a 11,000 sqm surface and an additional 100 stores.

The development of the two projects will be handled through Immochan, Auchan Group’s property management division, a subsidiary of which has been recently created in Romania also. Immochan manages 320 commercial centers in 12 countries.

The French company has also anounced the appointment of Tatian Diaconu as real esate director of Immochan Romania. In the past he has been involved in the launch of Decathlon in Romania and the expansion of Bricostore in Central and Eastern Europe.

The Auchan Group is controlled by the Mulliez family, one of the wealthiest in France. Gerard Mulliez opened the first store in Roubaix (Northern France) back in 1961. The Mulliez family has interests in a large number of companies including Decathlon, Kiabi and Pimkie.

The company counted 1,375 hypermarkets and supermarkets in 12 countries at the end of 2011 and it employs 262,000 people.