International offensive

A store acquired from a local supplier in the Polish town of Rzeszow was renovated and converted to Praktiker's range offer. The result is a DIY store of a good 7 000 m² that now operates officially under the Praktiker brand name. Two new openings are to follow in the summer, in Rybnik and Grudziadz. These will increase the group's total number of branches in Poland to 20 this year. On 13 April Praktiker opened a DIY store in Romania. Located in Galati, this is Praktiker's 17th store in the new EU member state. It is also the first one not to have been leased but actually purchased. In the medium term Praktiker intends to expand its Romanian network of stores to more than 30 outlets, and to have a presence in all cities with a population in excess of 120 000.