By KYIV. Dec 5 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Avrora retail chain, operating in the dollar store format, intends to open another 45 stores by the end of the year, with plans for 2024 to expand the network by 380 stores in Ukraine and 60 in Romania.
Taras Panasenko, co-founder and general director of the Avrora network, told the Interfax-Ukraine agency about this on the sidelines of RAU Summit 2023 in Kyiv on Tuesday.
He clarified that stores in Romania are opening in the north of the country.
He also announced plans for expansion into Moldova.
“We’ll definitely go in, we’re getting ready. Perhaps at the end of next year,” Panasenko said.
As reported, the private equity fund Emerging Europe Growth Fund III (EEGF III) with a capital of $200 million managed by Horizon Capital in July 2021 acquired an 11.3% minority stake in the Avrora retail chain, which is the leader in the dollar store segment on the Ukrainian market, and together with the main shareholder Lev Zhydenko received joint control through the ability to exercise decisive negative (blocking) influence on decision-making and business activities.
The head office of the Avrora retail chain is located in Poltava. Avrora was founded in 2011 by Lev Zhydenko, Taras Panasenko and Lesia Klymenko. At the beginning of 2023, the network consisted of more than 800 stores. The dollar store format is an internationally defined format for stores of socially oriented goods with a focus on a price of $1.
