Turkish shops Greece: From small shops to the largest clothing and footwear companies. Turkish fashion and luxury goods leader Vakko, the “Turkish Zara” LC Waikiki, as well as underwear and children’s clothing brands will also come to Greece. All the news in xristika.gr.
Relations between Greece and Turkey may have been in the red in recent months, but this does not seem to deter Turkish companies from doing business in our country.
Especially in the field of clothing, it can be said that there is a kind of landing of Turkish chains that consider that they can find a propitious ground in an economy where “value for money”, which they themselves promote, is the dominant trend and of course they can sell their products cheaper in Turkey, which has been plagued by inflation in recent years, in a strong currency market.
Just last week, another large Turkish clothing chain proceeded to establish a subsidiary in our country with the aim of developing a network of stores on Greek soil.
It is the leader of Turkish fashion, the Vakko clothing, luxury goods and retail group of the Hako family.
At the same time, the so-called “Turkish Zara”, LC Waikiki, is expanding its network in our country, while the Penti underwear chain also has a notable presence in Greece, as well as the B&G Store, specializing in children’s clothing. .
It should be noted that the first efforts of all these chains almost always start from the north of Greece, either from cities with a strong presence of the Muslim minority or from Thessaloniki.
Turkish shops Greece: The leader of Türkiye is coming
As for the new entry into the Greek market, the Vakko Investment Sole Proprietorship was established last week under the distinctive title Vakko MAE.
The company has an initial share capital of €500,000, which was fully paid up by the founding Turkish joint-stock company named Vakko Holding Anonim Sirketi.
The object of the company, according to the registration in GEMI, is the management, exploitation, etc. real estate (including tourist accommodation), the import, export and marketing of clothing, footwear, accessories, cosmetics, toiletries, watches, jewelry, textiles, household items and furniture, as well as the representation of foreign houses and nationals.
Vakko is listed among the leading fashion and luxury goods houses in neighboring Turkey and has also gained an international presence. The brainchild of iconic Turkish businessman Vitaly Hako, it began in 1934 as a small hat shop under the name Şen Şapka (happy hats).
He then adopted the name Vakko for his brand and started producing Turkish silk scarves. He gradually managed to expand beyond hats, scarves/scarves and fabrics and into the field of ready-to-wear, where he has been a leader in the Turkish market ever since.
Today Vakko specializes in haute couture luxury goods, through a series of many collections and stores. It also operates luxury department stores in malls in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.
Vakko’s chairman of the board of directors is the 66-year-old son of the company’s founder, Cem Hako, one of the pioneers in organizing Formula 1 racing in Istanbul. His wife, Ronit Gulchan, has been declared a consultant-director of the start-up company in Greece.
Turkish shops Greece: The “Turkish Zara” expands
Another large chain from our neighboring country, LC Waikiki, specialized in the so-called fast fashion, is already expanding dynamically in our country, a fact that has earned it the name “Turkish Zara”.
In fact, one more store is scheduled to open these days, the eighth in Greece, in the Fourlis group shopping center in Athens in Piraeus and Kifissos, while two more are scheduled to open at the end of the year, one of which It is in Komotini.
It is worth noting that Thrace is the first region of the country where the Turkish chain will have a presence in all prefectures, having started in Xanthi and opened the Alexandroupoli store last March.
The other cities that already house his collections are Thessaloniki, Larissa, Corinth and Patra.
The medium-term goal is to open another ten stores by the beginning of 2024, while in the long term it is estimated that the Greek market can be covered with 40-50 stores.
In their intentions, too, is the arrival of other brands developed by the group in the same logic as the competitors of Inditex (Zara) and H&M.
These stores will stand alone or as a store-within-a-store at the larger LC Waikiki. The priority brands are LCW Dream (the first European store opened in July 2020 in Xanthi) specializing in lingerie, LCW Home, with household items, and LCW Baby.
LC Waikiki, which was created in 1988 as a wholesale brand in Paris, passed into exclusive Turkish hands in 1997 and began its commercial presence from the neighboring country in 2000.
As the main shareholder with a percentage of 47.34%, the Kiucyuk family appears today, which controls the Taha group.
In 2021, LC Waikiki, which already has a presence in 55 countries, managed to exceed $1 billion in exports for the first time.
“Turkey has become the third largest country in textile exports in a very short period of time. I am pleased to say that LC Waikiki achieved 1 billion USD out of the total 12.85 billion USD in Turkish textile exports in 2021, according to the figures announced by the Association of Exporters of Turkey,” said the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company Vahap Kuchuk last week.
“Our contribution to the economy of our country through exports is one of our important responsibilities.
We are now the sixth largest clothing chain in Europe and the market leader in 22 of the 55 countries in which we operate.
We continue to work hard and all our efforts are focused on achieving our goal of becoming one of the top three clothing retail brands in Europe.”
Turkish shops Greece: Underwear
Another Turkish chain with a dynamic expansion plan in the Greek market is Penti, considered the leader in women’s underwear and beachwear in the neighboring country with 400 stores.
Penti Giyim Ticaret, as its full name is, debuted on the Greek market from Alexandroupolis shortly before the outbreak of the pandemic, it has expanded since last autumn already in Thessaloniki and is now on the verge of its decline, among others, in Athens. .
It is already said to be considering locations on the capital’s busy shopping streets.
The goal is to develop ten stores in our country this year and next, with a total investment of 2.5 million euros.
The history of the company started by the Carrillo family for women’s socks and stockings dates back to 1950.
In 2010, Penti reached 100 stores in the Turkish market, but its greatest growth began in 2011, when the American Carlyle Group entered as a shareholder, getting 30%. The company currently has a presence in 29 countries.