Food retailer Piccadilly opened its 20^th store nationwide, its first in Plovdiv, in Retail Park Plovdiv on February 5 2009, the company announced.

The new supermarket is the first step toward the realisation of the company's ambitious plan to invest 15 million leva in a total of five locations in Plovdiv.

Piccadilly's executive director Aleksander Čamparević said, as quoted by weekly Stroitelstvo Gradut, that main objective of the company was to become a strategic investor and business partner in Plovdiv.

"We want to earn the trust and loyalty of our Plovdiv customers by offering high professionalism, correctness, competitive prices and excellent customer service," Čamparević said.

The first Piccadilly in Plovdiv occupies 1600 sq m and has more than 16 000 items on its shelves. More than four million leva have been invested as the new supermarket, which secured jobs for 90 people.

Čamparević said that another two stores would open in Mall Plovdiv and Galeria Plovdiv by mid-2009, and that the investment strategy envisioned an additional two supermarkets in the city as well.

In 2008 alone, the company invested 25 million leva and opened seven stores, creating 400 jobs. Its development plan includes 20 more new supermarkets with an average retail space of between 2000 and 4000 sq m in cities with a population of about 50 000 people.

Piccadilly began business in Varna in 1994 as a 51 per cent foreign-owned enterprise. By 2003, the company became 100 per cent Bulgarian and completely dominated the market in Varna, preventing other food retailers, such as Billa, from opening stores in the city.

About two years ago, Piccadilly sold 85 per cent of its shares to Serbian firm Delta Holding, which announced initial plans to invest 70 million euro in 20 stores and to provide close to 1000 new jobs.