CrazySerb
October 29th, 2007, 11:07 PM
Sale of Serb chain marks end of socialist shopping
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Beogradjanka01.JPG/450px-Beogradjanka01.JPG
Ellie Tzortzi
Mon Oct 29, 12:59 PM ET
BELGRADE (Reuters) - Since World War Two, Serbs seeking no-frills lingerie, sturdy boots and homeware ranging from fridges to porcelain kittens queued patiently in "Robna Kuca Beograd," Yugoslavia's biggest department store chain.
Shopping trips to the sprawling stores were a weekend family ritual for almost two generations.
But in recent years they have fallen out of favor for all but pensioners, as the booming economy has changed tastes and encouraged wealthier young Serbs to seek out Western brands at shiny, suburban malls.
Now over 100 million euros in debt, the state-owned chain was sold to a local businessman on Monday for 360 million euros ($520 million).
The fate of its three dozen, prime-location outlets, of 240,000 square meters (2.6 million sq ft) is uncertain.
"I remember I had to wait in line to buy my first china set in Robna Kuca," said 84-year old Nadezda Tomasevic. "They were the best shops, always first to get goods. They had one model of skirt or coat and they would put dozens of it on the shelves."
Before communism fell, Robna Kuca's bright red neon sign in attractive Cyrillic script promised a cornucopia of consumer goods unseen in Soviet-satellite neighbors Hungary or Romania.
It was said to be Europe's third-biggest chain, and the first modern department store in eastern Europe.
But as Yugoslavia erupted in war in the early 1990s and nationalist strongman Slobodan Milosevic drove Serbia into isolation, the official retail market collapsed under sanctions and hyperinflation. Robna Kuca shelves gaped empty.
Buying and selling, from washing powder and fuel oil to designer jeans, was done on stalls by the roadside, or for the better connected, in the apartments of black market middlemen.
FOREIGN CHAINS
When Milosevic was ousted in 2000, the vacuum was first filled by local businessmen suspected of links to his regime. Foreign retail chains followed soon after, making the most of cheap real estate prices to build megastores near main highways.
Belgrade's sometimes difficult relationship with Western countries has not been reflected in any lack of appetite among Serbians for Western brands available in the new stores.
Robna Kuca, a dinosaur with thousands of middle-aged employees, could not compete in a market getting its first taste of novelty and conspicuous consumption. The chain went bankrupt in 2003.
It has since scraped through by leasing space to a hodgepodge of traders. Once imposing halls have the feel of a flea market, with pet food, cosmetics, handicrafts and no-name electronics piled up on cracked shelves against walls of peeling paint.
Radomir Zivanic, owner of a car import business that boomed in the Milosevic era, beat nine other bidders in the televised auction to become the chain's new owner, to gasps from the audience.
He did not divulge his plans, but sounded hopeful.
"We want to bring back the old shine," a tearful Zivanic told reporters after the auction.
"I'm overwhelmed by emotion. I was born in Belgrade and Robna Kuca means to me more than it could to any stranger."
Good luck, Radomir:cheers:
http://www.novosti.co.yu/upload/images/fotodana/2007/10/2910v.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Beogradjanka01.JPG/450px-Beogradjanka01.JPG
Ellie Tzortzi
Mon Oct 29, 12:59 PM ET
BELGRADE (Reuters) - Since World War Two, Serbs seeking no-frills lingerie, sturdy boots and homeware ranging from fridges to porcelain kittens queued patiently in "Robna Kuca Beograd," Yugoslavia's biggest department store chain.
Shopping trips to the sprawling stores were a weekend family ritual for almost two generations.
But in recent years they have fallen out of favor for all but pensioners, as the booming economy has changed tastes and encouraged wealthier young Serbs to seek out Western brands at shiny, suburban malls.
Now over 100 million euros in debt, the state-owned chain was sold to a local businessman on Monday for 360 million euros ($520 million).
The fate of its three dozen, prime-location outlets, of 240,000 square meters (2.6 million sq ft) is uncertain.
"I remember I had to wait in line to buy my first china set in Robna Kuca," said 84-year old Nadezda Tomasevic. "They were the best shops, always first to get goods. They had one model of skirt or coat and they would put dozens of it on the shelves."
Before communism fell, Robna Kuca's bright red neon sign in attractive Cyrillic script promised a cornucopia of consumer goods unseen in Soviet-satellite neighbors Hungary or Romania.
It was said to be Europe's third-biggest chain, and the first modern department store in eastern Europe.
But as Yugoslavia erupted in war in the early 1990s and nationalist strongman Slobodan Milosevic drove Serbia into isolation, the official retail market collapsed under sanctions and hyperinflation. Robna Kuca shelves gaped empty.
Buying and selling, from washing powder and fuel oil to designer jeans, was done on stalls by the roadside, or for the better connected, in the apartments of black market middlemen.
FOREIGN CHAINS
When Milosevic was ousted in 2000, the vacuum was first filled by local businessmen suspected of links to his regime. Foreign retail chains followed soon after, making the most of cheap real estate prices to build megastores near main highways.
Belgrade's sometimes difficult relationship with Western countries has not been reflected in any lack of appetite among Serbians for Western brands available in the new stores.
Robna Kuca, a dinosaur with thousands of middle-aged employees, could not compete in a market getting its first taste of novelty and conspicuous consumption. The chain went bankrupt in 2003.
It has since scraped through by leasing space to a hodgepodge of traders. Once imposing halls have the feel of a flea market, with pet food, cosmetics, handicrafts and no-name electronics piled up on cracked shelves against walls of peeling paint.
Radomir Zivanic, owner of a car import business that boomed in the Milosevic era, beat nine other bidders in the televised auction to become the chain's new owner, to gasps from the audience.
He did not divulge his plans, but sounded hopeful.
"We want to bring back the old shine," a tearful Zivanic told reporters after the auction.
"I'm overwhelmed by emotion. I was born in Belgrade and Robna Kuca means to me more than it could to any stranger."
Good luck, Radomir:cheers:
http://www.novosti.co.yu/upload/images/fotodana/2007/10/2910v.jpg