Lidl finally arrives in Serbia - German chain of discount stores already found location in Novi Sad?

International chains of discount stores have been avoiding Serbia for years, the reason for which may lie in the existence of monopoly, unregulated market or something else, but it seems that that will finally come to an end soon. The German international discount store chain Lidl has recently found a location for its facility in Novi Sad, Dnevnik daily newspaper reports.

People at the competent city institutions were unable to confirm that information, but Dnevnik was told that representatives of the German company had been coming to see them for that reason. Dnevnik also learns from unofficial sources that Lidl is interested in a location on Futog Road, as well as that it is not the only facility that the company from Germany plans to open in Novi Sad.

Let us remind that Lidl registered its business in Serbia on December 22, 2010. The company's founder is Lidl Srbija Supermarketi, while the founding capital amounts to EUR 20,000. People at the Lidl headquarters in Germany confirmed in late 2010 that the company was examining conditions and opportunities in numerous countries, including Serbia, and that the decision on the arrival in Serbia would be made once all the analyses were finished.

Lidl is, by the way, already present in the region: Hungary, Slovenia, Bulgaria... It also operates in Croatia for couple of years and it is most likely that that company will be the first discount store chain in Serbia. There are no discount store chains in our country. Goods in such stores are much cheaper than in other stores, Namely, these stores are not luxury facilities, investments in them are not big, goods are not on shelves but in boxes... They usually span between 1,000 and 2,000 square meters, meaning that they are of the same size as supermarkets.

So-called hard-discount stores, including Lidl, manage to offer goods at prices lower than those offered by competition because their offer mainly include huge quantities of a small number of varieties of one article. For example, the offer may include only two or three types of coffee, but, since they buy large quantities, they also enjoy certain benefits, that is, they buy products at lower prices.