Pepco: The 4.1 billion euro Polish chain officially in Greece – Larissa among the first choices

Opening one store a day – sometimes more than one – Poland’s Jumbo, the retail discount chain, pepco, currently has 2,922 stores in 16 European countries, while from October it will add to its portfolio and the Greek market.

Keeping with the timetable announced by the Polish chain last November, the first Pepco store, a miniature Jumbo in terms of prices with characteristics of Danish Flying Tiger stores in terms of product mix, opens in October of 2022 at the Piraeus Retail Park, sealing its strategic partnership with Trade Estates AEEAPa Fourlis group company.

It should be noted that to the portfolio of Trade Estates, which already includes retail parks both in Greece (Thessaloniki, Agios Ioannis Rentis, Piraeus) and abroad (Bulgaria and Cyprus), 4 new ones will be added in Patras (on the property of the former ABEX, on the Dymaion Coast), Heraklion (near the airport), Spata (across from Smart Park) and Chalandri (Duk. Placentia).

And in Thessaloniki

In addition to Attica, Pepco stores are to be opened immediately in Thessaloniki, with the chain having recently published advertisements for staff, while further expansion will follow in the rest of the country, with Larissa being among the first choices.

In total, the Polish chain, which proceeded to establish a subsidiary company in our country, Pepco Greece, managed by the Lithuanian Julius Petrulis, plans to open 12 stores in Greece with an area of ​​350 to 650 sq.m.

Pepco is active in the sale of clothes for the whole family, fashion accessories, cosmetics, toys, household equipment and decorative items, while the purpose of Pepco Greece also includes the creation of an e-shop.

Low prices fast growth

A key characteristic of the Polish chain is low prices (value retailing) and as mentioned in the financial report for the 9th month (it closes its financial year on September 30), a brilliant field of glory opens up in front of it.

In particular it is pointed out that under the weight of inflationary pressures the market for discount chains across Europe is now much larger than it was at the time of the previous financial crisis in 2007-08, which means that a much larger customer base is more familiar and shops more often at low-cost chains.

The Pepco group, which in addition to the Pepco brand also manages two more brands, the hard discount chain Poundland, as well as the smaller Dealz, opened a total of 483 new stores in 2021, with its entire network at the end of last year to reach 3,504 stores worldwide while employing more than 37,000 employees.

Only in the period March – June this year, 109 new Pepco stores were opened, while in order to understand the speed with which the chain is making… openings: it entered Austria only last year and already has 47 points of sale. In Bulgaria, within three years of presence, it has 120 stores, while in Italy and Serbia, which started in 2020, it currently has 71 and 75 stores respectively. In total, it has developed 2,922 stores in the 16 European countries where it is present, with 42% of them located in Poland.

In 9M group turnover was €3.58bn, up 17.4% YTD on a constant currency basis, while it has opened 350 new stores (excluding the closure of 59 Fultons stores).

Pepco Group debuted on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in May 2021.

Owned by the Steinhoff Group

Pepco, as well as the hard discount supermarket chain Poundland, as well as the smaller Dealz, which also markets food, household cleaners, decorative products, etc., are subsidiaries of the Steinhoff group, which in 2015 acquired the Pepkor (South Africa), including the Pepco group (formerly known as Pepkor Europe).

As stated on the official website of the Pepco group, while the majority of the shares are indirectly owned by Steinhoff, it is managed independently through its decentralized leadership team.