Carrefours Bulgarian Mall Sale Close To End 14/03/2008
Marinopoulos, the Greek partner of the French group Carrefour, has reached an agreement with a buyer for Carrefour mall in Sofia, Pari daily reported on March 13. Marinopoulos holds the rights to develop Carrefour's retail chain in Bulgaria. The new owner is likely to be a large Greek company planning large-scale real estate investments in Bulgaria, Pari said. Carrefour mall, occupying a terrain of 54 000 sq m on Tsarigradsko Chausse Blvd., is still in the construction stage and is a part of a biggest project called Hermes Park. Hermes Park is being developed by Carrefour Bulgaria and European Trade Centre, which co-own the land and the building rights. Hermes Park comprises a trade centre with a gross actual area of 240 000 sq m, 14 000 of which will be allocated to the... more

Austrian 'baumax' Steps Bulgarian Market 15/04/2008
Austrian ‘Baumax' opens on Monday, April 14 its first supermarket for construction materials in Bulgaria's city of Plovdiv. Second local outlet will be opened in Stara Zagora next week. Each one of the stores is on the amount of 10 million EUR. The retail area of Plovdiv's outlet is 12,500 sq m which makes it the biggest of its kind in Bulgaria. The supermarket in Plovdiv also will be drive-in. ‘Baumax' assortment will be divided in four sectors - constructions, interior, garden and instruments. More than 50% of the firms - suppliers are local companies. The store is foreseen to give job to 105 people. The company operates on the European market from more than 30 years. By now the firm possesses with 128 objects in 7 countries. The firm intends to invest in other... more

Bulgaria Still Looking For Its First Ecohotel 14/03/2008
Bulgaria's first eco-hotel, in line with the relevant EU standards, would open no earlier than 2009, Denimila Dencheva, senior expert with the Ministry of Environment and Water Affairs, told the Ecohotel conference held in Sofia. There were number of tourism facilities in Bulgaria that put the word “eco”, when describing the services they offer. Some of them have acquired various certificates, while others use the symbol without any authorisation, Dnevnik daily reported on March 13. The main challenges facing Bulgarian business trying to comply with environmental standards was the high cost of eco facilities, the lack of adequate information on certification systems and criteria and of the economic benefits from eco compliance, Zornitsa Stavreva, executive director of the... more