Another giant for Romania

The heading under which the press office of the German DIY store group Hornbach announced this opening mid July 2021 put it in a nutshell: "Another giant for Romania".
This is the eighth Hornbach location in Romania. It is located in Cluj-Napoca, the second largest city of the country, situated in the north-west and with around 330 000 inhabitants.
And it really is a heavyweight: the new store has a sales area of about 23 000 m² in total (however 13 000 m² according to the weighting with which the German association BHB measures retail space). Gardening and pet products occupy an area of 5 200 m², and the drive-in has around 6 900 m². Hornbach has invested around EUR 27 mio in the new location.
"Hornbach has been developing very positively here for years," says Jan Hornbach, CEO of Hornbach International and member of the sixth generation of the family-run DIY store group, during a walk through the store shortly before its opening. "We have firmly planned further growth in the country and preparations are already under way for a major DIY and garden store in Constanţa, the metropolitan city on the Black Sea."

The demand for material for DIY and garden projects has also risen significantly in the course of the coronavirus pandemic in Romania where the stores were only slightly affected by sales restrictions. "In particular information and advice gained in importance again during this time," says Mugurel-Horia Rusu. "Many customers are coming to us who are carrying out larger projects in the house and garden for the first time."
120 employees are available to provide service and advice. This includes, for example, the supply of goods, assembly by tradesmen, woodcutting, a curtain sewing service and a paint-mixing service. Customers can use their own smartphones and the in-store terminals to access the online shop at hornbach.ro with its roughly 70 000 articles.