The sale of a 49% stake in the shares of clothing retailer Tina R to a foreign investment fund indicates its transit from a family company to a structured, international business, believes Rares Jianu, one of the two founders of the clothing chain.
Rares Jianu and Sevastina Stoica, the original founders of the Tina R clothing store network, have remained majority shareholders in the company, whilst simultaneously securing the necessary funds for expanding their business.
The two entrepreneurs originally sowed the seeds for the Tina R business back in college, when the two students at the Romanian Academy for Economic Studies (ASE) discovered that selling clothes proved a profitable business. Over time, the Tina R brand took shape changing its original Romanian name to a more European sounding one.
"Originally, this brand was named after the word "tinar" (Romanian for "young"). However, at the time, English names were considered sophisticated and we tried to adapt the brand name to suit our clients' tastes. This is how the Tina R name was born, which sounds less Romanian," said Jianu.
In 1997, with 900,000 euros, Jianu and Stoica opened their first store on Calea Victoriei (Victoriei Avenue).
"At the time, that area was advantageous for opening a clothing store," added Jianu. Today, he is able to recount the story of the difficult journey - from the first store opening, to creating a ten-store network, as the company reinvested profits and the owners were granted banking loans in order to achieve their goal. Currently, the value of Tina R's credits amounts to 900,000 euros, according to the company representatives.
"We have always been among the first on the list of those wanting to rent space in shopping centres. That is the current focus of our intention; to be present in all the important malls in the country," specified Jianu. @
