Heavy Duty wants to march to success in double quick time

Since 2002 the firm has opened 17 stores mainly in large cities. "We want to saturate the Polish market with roughly 60 shops. We envisage completing the plan by the end of 2008," said Piotr Drabarek, president of Heavy Duty. Half of the stores will be owned by the company, while the other half will be franchised. "We compete with strong youth and sport brands," said Drabarek. Competitors who have been creating their large networks for many years doubt whether these plans can succeed. Heavy Duty exports 10% of its products to multi-brand stores among others in Germany, the Netherlands, Belarus, Slovakia, Russia and the Czech Republic. "If we manage to open 60 stores in Poland we will think of stronger foreign expansion," said Drabarek. (Puls Biznesu, p. 13) M.M.