Belgium-based Delhaize Group is not planning to withdraw from Serbia and this year will continue refurbishing its outlets in the country.
The COO of Delhaize Serbia, John Kyritsis, told the Beta news agency that Serbia is for Delhaize Group one of the key markets, recalling that the company recently opened a €50 million distribution center in Stara Pazova. He admitted that Delhaize has been operating in a difficult economic environment but, despite this, has been finding solutions such as reducing product size and quantity to make them more accessible to consumers, as well as expanding the range of products under the private label brands “Premia” and “365”.
Last year, Delhaize Serbia opened nine new outlets – one Tempo store, seven Maxi shops and one Shop & Go store, and renovated 38 outlets. The company rebranded some 150 Mini Maxi stores into the Shop & Go format last year, while the remaining 40 were rebranded in January 2015.
Delhaize Serbia is going ahead with its plans to modernize its retail network of 390 stores across the country. Last week it opened its first refurbished Tempo hypermarket in Belgrade with a sales area of 8,000 square meters, while at the same expanding both the fresh products selection as well as the product range (to over 25,000 products) and opening a restaurant on the premises.
Another Tempo store in Belgrade will be renovated according to the new concept by the middle of the summer.
© 2015 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic
