Farmaciile Dona, one of the main drugstore networks on the domestic market, will rely on street locations to expand, while most rival chains choose to focus on shopping centres.

Stores situated in street locations generate higher inflows of revenue from the basic activity, drug sales, while those located in malls register sales in the non-pharmaceutical area (cosmetics, para-pharmaceuticals, OTC drugs).

"For the new drugstores, we prefer street locations to malls, and this is also reflected by the fact that out of 106 stores, only one is in a mall," said Razvan Nidelea, national sales manager of the company.

Last year, sales of dermocosmetics across the entire network were put at around 15% of overall turnover, while these sales are expected to go up by around 2% this year.

At present, Dona operates 106 drugstores, while another 19 stores are scheduled to open by yearend, so that the network should reach 125. In most cases, pharmacy networks expand through the acquisition of new licenses, because the creation of pharmacies is restricted based on demographic criteria.

In the first three months of this year, the company posted turnover worth 16.7m euros, up 91% compared with the same period last year.

"The increase was triggered by several factors, such as the launch of new drugstores, the consolidation of the position of newly-opened ones and the overall growth of the pharmaceutical market," Nidelea added.

Retail sales rose by 10.4% in the first three months of this year compared with the same period in 2007, above the overall market level of 3.8%, according to data released by market research company Cegedim.

The drugstore network ended 2007 with turnover worth 193.9m RON (58.1m euros), almost double the value reported in 2006, 99m RON (28m euros).

In 2007, Dona had 886 employees and generated net income worth 1.4