The new retail chain will employ more than 600 workers.
The PEPCO retail chain will open its first stores in Croatia on Friday, at the Point Shopping Centre in Zagreb and at the Supernova Shopping Centre in Buzin near Zagreb. In the next few weeks, PEPCO will also open stores in the Westgate Shopping City in Zaprešić, and in Varaždin, Koprivnica and Slavonski Brod. In the next three years, the plan is to open about 75 stores in Croatia and employ over 600 people. PEPCO has over 1,000 stores and is present in several Central European countries, reports Jutarnji List on April 3, 2017.
PEPCO announced its plans to enter the Croatian market in October 2016. The focus has been put on the implementation of the development plan, according to which PEPCO will open about 75 stores in the first three years of operations in the Croatian market, mainly in towns with over 10,000 inhabitants, and thereby employ more than 600 people. They are currently working on the opening of the first 20 stores planned for the first 12 months of operations in Croatia.
PEPCO is a European retail chain which offers to customers a complete range of clothing and household products at affordable prices. It has more than 1,000 stores in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Romania. It was started in Poland in 2004 and has since expanded into Central and Eastern Europe, employing more than 9,000 people. Its stores record over eight million monthly purchases.
The stores will bring to customers about 30 product lines, including children’s, ladies’ and men’s clothing, lingerie, fashion accessories, toys, products for home decoration, decorative items and ornaments, home textiles… About 60 percent of the range is clothing, including shoes and lingerie, and 40 percent other products.
“Croatian market is very important for us and we expect that the interest of our customers will enable us to enter into the Adriatic region. We are confident that with the opening of the first store we will begin a long journey through the country,” said Stanko Marcin, managing director for Central and Eastern Europe.
PEPCO is a brand owned by Pepkor, a South African investment holding company. After 10 years of operation, they joined Steinhoff International Holdings Ltd. Both companies have been operating for decades in the global markets. The whole group currently employs more than 90,000 workers in 6,500 stores in 44 countries. Part of the group are 42 brands in Europe, including Conforama, POCO, KIKA, PEP&CO, Poundland and Emmezeta, which is already present in Croatia.
