The Largest Merkur Sales Centre in the World is in Beograd

The first Merkur sales centre in Beograd has become very popular, and proved that the city needs another one. The new Merkur sales centre has been built on a 2.8-hectare plot of land in Karaburma. It is the largest Merkur sales centre so far. This is also the third consecutive Merkur sales centre in Serbia. The first two are in Beograd and Novi Sad. The investment into land and building has reached EUR 25 million. The indoor sales area measures 11,200 square metres. The size of the facility including the indoor garage, warehouse and auxiliary premises totals more than 28,000 square metres. The new sales centre will employ 101 persons. More than 3,000 applicants have petitioned for the job. The number of applicants has exceeded all our expectations. This is a proof that people are interested in jobs at Merkur.  

The design of the new sales centre introduces a shopper-friendly sales concept. Its basic feature is a carefully designed shopping aisle winding through a modern and neatly arranged shopping area. The sales range includes more than 50,000 different articles of established brands. All products are carefully displayed. The sales centre consists of two parts. MERKURDOM offers products for the home, quality living and gardening, while MERKURPROFI, whose Slovene counterpart is MERKURMOJSTER, targets DIY buyers, entrepreneurs, handymen and craftsmen. The centre also has large construction and gardening departments. The underground garage and the outdoor parking lot can accept 431 cars. 

The size of the first shipment may be illustrated by the fact that just from Slovenia the goods were transported by 72 fully loaded trucks. The centre will offer a huge variety of articles, many of them made in Slovenia.    

The sales centre is due to open on Thursday, 15 October 2009, at noon. The address of the new sales centre is Mirijevski bulevar 18. Its location guarantees good connections with down-town Beograd, its settlements on the left bank of the Danube, and other places from the wider surroundings. 

The buyers will now be able to decorate their homes with articles sold by Merkur. Already during the construction the company intended to improve the surroundings of the centre. Merkur therefore invited the young people from the neighbouring area to decorate the brand new wall around the sales centre. The idea was embraced by the nearby primary school in Karaburma, OŠ Jovana Popovića. The young street artists worked devotedly and adorned the wall by their graffiti drawings.     

The construction started in July 2008. It was finished after fifteen months, because it was very demanding. It was especially difficult to stabilize a 200-metre sliding patch of land. The works took several months and a massive supporting structure had to be built. It was only possible to start the construction after that. The reconstruction of the site has benefited others as well. The landslide has been threatening the living quarters nearby, and the threat has been removed.   

Merkur first appeared in Serbia in 1991. Until 2005, its subsidiary Merkur International, d. o. o., Beograd primarily worked in the Serbian market as a wholesale dealer in metal products. In November 2006 Merkur Group launched its first large Merkur sales centre in Beograd and thus started developing its retail network in Serbia. In September 2007, a new sales centre was opened in Novi Sad. Merkur Group plans to open further new sales centres in Novi Sad, Beograd, Kragujevac, Niš and elsewhere.   

Even though in 2009 the economic circumstances are not favourable, in its 113-year history Merkur has never before invested so actively. In 2009, Merkur Group opened new Merkur sales centres in Varaždin, Skopje, and Murska Sobota, and one Big Bang sales centre in Beograd. In the years to come, the Group plans to invest in new sales and steel centres. This will strengthen our position in the markets of South-Eastern Europe. The pace of fulfilment of our strategic plans, however, will depend on global economic circumstances.