Polish shoe giant will focus on CEE, Gulf - VP

The vice-president of one of Poland’s most successful shoe retailers, CCC, said on Friday that his company will focus on expansion in countries in Europe in which it is doing well and will further consider future growth in Persian Gulf countries, according to a report in the Polish press. Piotr Nowjalis said, “We are in talks with the franchisees interested in opening stores under our brand name in the Gulf countries…in the coming years we could open up those markets with 100 stores having our products.” However, Nowjalis also acknowledged that expansion in Germany would decline, given PLN 80 million in net losses in that country thus far in 2016. “We are strong in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and we want to strengthen our position here. We decided that in the interest of our shareholders is that we have limited expansion in Germany, because it is not profitable,” he added. The shoe and apparel maker and distributor has 773 stores in 16 countries, including outlets in Turkey and Kazakhstan, with 424 stores in Poland. It plans to increase its network to a total of 1,166 shops by the end of 2017.