Despite selling off branches to its competitors, Yeinot Bitan is still opening new stores. After selling 13 stores to competitors for nearly NIS 180 million, the Israeli chain is currently inaugurating a new store in the Barnea neighborhood in Ashkelon.
As far as is known, the new 500-square meter store is Yeinot Bitan's fifth in Ashkelon and its second store in the city on its "Yeinot Bitan BaCity" neighborhood format. The chain already has stores on Herzl Street, Hapninim Street, Sderot Jerusalem Street, and another Yeinot Bitan BaCity store on Kibbutz Galuyot Street.
The new store fits in with Yeinot Bitan's current strategy of urban stores under the Yeinot Bitan brand, which are perceived favorably by consumers in comparison with the group's other chain - Mega Ba'Ir.
Nahum Bitan, the controlling shareholder in Yeinot Bitan, Israel's second-largest food chain in terms of the number of branches, entered the business four decades ago by opening his first store in Ashkelon.
In recent months, Bitan has sold properties with over 20,000 square meters in space to competing retailers, with the aim of raising money to help him cope with his cash flow problems and stabilize the chain he controls. If all of the deals are completed, the group's annual turnover will drop by NIS 600 million.
At the same time, Yeinot Bitan signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Klirmark Capital fund for a deal in which the fund will inject NIS 500 million into the chain.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on February 5, 2020
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