Kyiv-based Knyharnia Ye Ltd. (Kyiv), which is developing the Ye bookstore chain, plans to open seven stores in 2011, expanding the chain to 20 stores in Ukraine, the company's director Kateryna Fedorenko, has told Interfax-Ukraine.
She did not disclose the amount of investment in the chain’s development, adding that top-priority cities for development are Kyiv, Lviv and Dnipropetrovsk.
"Currently we’re searching for premises in all of the large cities in Ukraine and we’re considering smaller cities such as Rivne, Lutsk, Khmelnytsky and Kirovohrad," she said.
Fedorenko said that bookstores operate in leased premises, and the company does not plan to buy them out in the future.
Asked about the expansion plans thank to the acquisition of other bookstore chains, the company’s director said that the company does not have such plans today.
"Knyharnia Ye has a clear format, which all stores of the chain are set up to suit. It’s easier for us to open stores from nothing that to reformat existing stores of other chains.
The first Ye bookstore was opened on December 21, 2007 at 3, Lysenko Street in Kyiv. Today the chain has 12 stores, in particular, six in Kyiv, two in Lviv, each one in Kharkiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Vinnytsia, Ternopil and Volodymyr-Volynsky. The average area of a store is 170 square meters.
Austria’s ECEM Media GmbH, which is also developing the Ukrainian Week publication in Ukraine, is the founder of the bookstore chain.
ECEM Media GmbH was established in 2006 to realize media projects on in Eastern Europe.
