Basque retailer Eroski remains committed to expanding its business this year, despite the increasing levels of red tape which are slowing down new store development.
The Spanish company this week said that it had opened 78 new outlets so far this year, creating some 700 new jobs, at a cost of more than €150 million.
The group's aim is to become one of the country's leading national food retailers with its Eroski hypermarkets and Consum and Charter supermarkets, and also to expand its portfolio of non-food operations such as travel agents, sporting goods retailers and perfume stores.
It is also keen to expand outside its traditional home in the Basque region, and outlets were opened in 10 other autonomous regions during the year, including Madrid, Navarra and the Balearic Islands.
Eroski - one of the few leading Spanish food retailers which is not owned by a foreign player - reported sales of €5.4 billion in 2002, up 11 per cent on the previous year. New store openings in 2002 reached 193, including refits of existing outlets, and total investments in expanding the business reached €271.8 million.
Eroski seems to have escaped the legal problems faced by many other leading Spanish retailers trying to expand their operations, possibly because it has focused on smaller stores rather than the larger hypermarket format - just two of the 78 new outlets opened so far this year were the larger size.
Other chains have not been so lucky. Alcampo, owned by France's Auchan group, for example, has been forced to reduce its hypermarket expansion plans this year from 15 to just three as a result of local authorities delaying - or even refusing - approval for the projects.