In brief

2010-09-06

Agata Meble, a furniture chain, has rented 4,600 m² of retail space in the Galeria Victoria shopping gallery in Walbrzych. The complex will open in October 2010, and the investor of the gallery is Keen Property Partners Retail.

On 28 August, Komfort opened a franchise store in Malbork. The establishment is the company’s 28th store operating as a franchise and the tenth to open in 2010.

Burger King is in talks which it hopes will bring about its purchase by 3i Group PLC, a British private equity investment fund, according to the Street Wall Journal. At present, the market value of the company is estimated to be $2.26bn.

The DaGrasso pizza chain expects to have around 300 restaurants on the Polish market. The company is also considering launching its establishments in towns with fewer than 20,000 residents. At present, DaGrasso manages 200 franchise restaurants and by the end of 2010 it plans to have set up seven new establishments.

Empik Cafe plans to have opened five new cafes by the end of 2010. At present, the chain consists of 54 establishments taking up a combined area of 4,900 m².

Coffeeheaven, a coffee bar chain, has opened an outlet in the Galeria Drukarnia shopping gallery in Bydgoszcz. This is the chain’s 64^th establishment in Poland and the first in the town. The cafe takes up 73 m² and has an 80 m² patio.

Rabat, a franchise chain, plans to open up to ten stores operating in accordance with the full franchise model by the end of 2010. By the end of June 2010, the chain consisted of 530 stores, of which two were operating as full franchises.

The Bomi retail group has bought a 100% stake in Centrum Dystrybucja, a distribution company. As a result of the acquisition, Bomi’s profitability in the distribution arena will increase by 25% per year. At present, Centrum Dystrybucja has 3,000 clients and after the transaction it will also manage 450 Bomi stores.

The Mlekovita dairy has completed the construction of the world’s largest cheese packaging plant. The factory is located in Wysokie Mazowieckie and is due to open in October 2010. The construction work is thought to be worth PLN 17m (€4.3m).

On 3 September, Organic Farma Zdrowia opened a store in the Metro Bis shopping gallery in Warsaw. Another is scheduled for October 2010, in the Galeria Mokotow shopping gallery, also in Warsaw. At present, the chain consists of 18 establishments.

The investment firm Begg has commenced the construction of a three-storey shopping complex in Nowa Deba, in the Podkarpackie voivodship. The establishment will be occupied by a Stokrotka supermarket, among others. The building is due to be completed in Q4 2010 or at the beginning of 2011.

Local retailers in Stalowa Wola intend to build a shopping gallery in the centre of the town. The complex will take up 2,500 m² and will be located adjacent to the bus station. The centre is due to open in 2013 at the earliest.

Rank Progress, a development firm, has sold a site to Leroy Merlin Inwestycje in the Galeria Twierdza I shopping gallery in Klodzko. The transaction was worth around €7.8m.

Aleksander Grzesiak has become the chairman of Philip Morris Polska, the prominent tobacco concern. Mr Grzesiak replaced Andrzej Dabrowski, who has been promoted. The new chairman has been working for Philip Morris Polska since 1993.

Since 1 September Jan Faryaszewski has been the deputy chairman of Kompania Piwowarska (KP), the largest brewery in Poland. Mr Faryaszewski, who previously worked for the Danone group in Paris, will replace Lawrence Fry, who has been promoted to the SABMiller group, the owner of KP.

Miroslaw Cechowski has become a director of the Agora shopping gallery in Bytom. At present, Braaten+Pedersen Plus Partners, the developer of the complex, and Euro Mall Centre Management Poland, the administrator of the centre, are working on the establishment of a team which could manage the gallery.