Big increase in retail area

In Italy the DIY chains increased the number of stores they operated and above all their retail areas in 2004. The number of stores operated by the top ten increased by 42 (+ 11.4 per cent) to 410, while retail floor space grew by 17.7 per cent to 908 492 m² in all. While the growth in the first half of the year was weaker (+ 4.3 per cent compared with the second half of 2003), the operators showed markedly more dynamism in the second half of the year with an increase of 6.5 per cent. A trend has been emerging for some years for more stores to open in the second half of the year. Brico Io recorded the biggest increase in stores (14), followed by Bricofer with 11. Bricocenter opened seven outlets, but the number of branches declined from 22 to 20, with the franchise outlets losing out. SIB, the common parent company of Bricocenter and Leroy Merlin, is now wholly owned by Auchan. The Punto Brico cooperative increased its number of stores by five to 43. Three of these five new stores belong to the cooperative partner Eurobrico, which operates 16 stores in the Triveneto region.
The picture is different where the two French DIY chains, Castorama and Leroy Merlin, are concerned. Although they don’t top the list in terms of the total number of stores, they occupied the top slot in 2004 when it came to overall retail area.
Castorama in particular was very busy in 2004, opening four new stores. One of these was opened in Bari and has a retail area of 9 000 m². The first Castorama store in Italy, opened by the group in Pademo Dugnao in 1988 on a 6 500 m² site, was also replaced last October by a new store in Nova Milanese (9 000 m²). All four new Castorama outlets are in central and southern Italy. The company is thus progressing southwards, even if the next store is to open in Mantua. Following Curno Leroy Merlin will open a third outlet in Rome and a further store in Afragola, in Naples province.
With regard to the growth in retail area, Brico Io heads the top ten with an increase of 40.1 per cent to 83 115 m². The second largest increase was recorded by Leroy Merlin with 34.3 per cent, followed by Castorama with 20.6 per cent.
Development was below average at Bricocenter (14.9 per cent), Punto Brico (11.7 per cent), Self (11.6 per cent) and Bricofer (10.1 per cent), while Obi with growth of 5.7 per cent in retail area and Punto Legno with 3.0 per cent lag way behind.