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Stambouli Bulgaria Ltd.
Company History in Bulgaria
Our business operations in Bulgaria date back to 1984, when our knowledge
and experience in the leisure and entertainment sector led to the Vice President of the
Committee of Tourism in Bulgaria requesting us to supply their Tourist resorts with
sports, leisure and catering equipment. Their first order was the beginning of a long
cooperation between the tourist complexes and Stambouli Enterprises, one which continues
until now and one which build the foundations for our establishment as a major investor in
Bulgaria during the post-Communism era. Furthermore we supplied equipment to turn key
industrial projects, related to the tourist industry, helping the country to recover
faster towards a better economy. Most of these equipment are in use in major tourist
facilities such as those in Albena, Sunny Beach, Golden Sands, Pomporovo and Borovets.
In 1987 the company became the only foreign member and
supplier of the newly created "Consortium for Economic Activities in the Field of
Tourism", extending medium term credits for up to three years to its Bulgarian
partners as well as purchasing their local production in order to help them pay for their
equipment. This created the base for Stambouli's export business from Bulgaria. In 1988
with special permission from the Committee of Tourism, Stambouli opened its first hard
currency shops in various winter and summer resorts selling various branded, imported and
local products to foreign customers. By then our business clients were mostly State
Companies and also operating eight hard currency shops, selling consumer goods only
to tourists, in a joint venture with Balkantourist.
On the 28th of February 1991, without much warning all the
hard currency shops were ordered to close, leaving our company with a two million dollar
stock of goods. However, a new law was passed allowing shops to operate in the local
currency and enabling foreigners to register a local company. We seized the opportunity
thus registering Stambouli (Bulgaria) Ltd. as a local company. The company ended its'
joint venture with Balkantourist, keeping the eight shops it previously operated. This led
to the development of the "Bonjour" chain
of stores, which it is currently the largest of its kind in Bulgaria.
From eight shops catering two million tourists a year, the
market was now open to an additional eight and a half million Bulgarian consumers. Since
then Stambouli (Bulgaria) Ltd. grew to a company employing over 1600 employees.
In the years following the changes of 1991, Stambouli
developed a large spectrum of operation including import,
distribution and retail
while continuing to work with the State companies and Tourist complexes. Major brands such
as Gillette, Revlon and Cadbury, just to name a few, entrusted Stambouli (Bulgaria) Ltd.
with the exclusive distribution of their products in Bulgaria. Our vast warehouses in
Albena, Pernik and Plovdiv, which include free-zone premises, as well as twenty two
wholesale and cash and carry shops situated in the main population centers cover the whole
country. Working out of twenty distribution centers and using our own fleet of minivans
and trucks which now number over 150 vehicles, we are able to cater more than twelve
thousand customers.
The "Bonjour" chain of stores now includes fifty
six shops throughout the country with outlets in all the mail towns. In addition to our
stores we now own two department stores in Sofia selling luxury goods to the people. In
1996 we opened our first "Bonjour" supermarket and since then three more have
been opened and future possible sites are constantly being examined.
Export plays a major
part in the company's activities. Stambouli's extensive contacts and their vast experience
in importing and exporting goods to and from the Middle East, Europe and the USA, has led
the company to develop a large trading organization with a database of a wide variety of
products at very competitive prices through our offices in the Middle East and Eastern
Europe. For the last twelve years Stambouli Enterprises Ltd. has been exporting textile
garments from Cyprus and Lebanon, to the USA. When Bulgaria was granted "Most Favored
Nation" status by the USA in 1994 the textile department was moved to Bulgaria and
Stambouli (Bulgaria) Ltd. started subcontracting locally. Production begun for major
American companies such as Sears, J.C. Penny and The Gap. In 1995 we seized the
opportunity to purchase a large bankrupt textile factory in the area of Banite, near
Smolyan. By June 1996 the purchase of the whole property of the factory's four units was
concluded and within months the factory was renovated and production begun. Currently more
than five hundred workers are employed by the textile factory of Stambouli (Bulgaria)
Ltd., working three shifts a day, around the clock, seven days a week in order to meet the
increasing demand of our American clients.
Our secondary activities in Bulgaria, which are on the
process of expansion, are mail order through our
sister company Postshopping, our Exchange Bureaus
through Stambouli Leasing and Finance and Interior Design
and Decoration. Our aggressive attitude towards the market made as a prominent figure
in the Bulgarian economy, establishing therefore a trust between the people and us, which
remains a strongest feature in this ever challenging region of the world.
1997-98. Stambouli Enterprises Ltd. All Rights
Reserved. |
