It's official, Casaideas returns to Colombia and opens today his first store in Bogotá

At the end of September, LR explained the entrance plan for Casaideas, a company dedicated to the decoration and home categories. After a year of study, the Chilean company decided to invest in opening stores north of Bogotá, a project for which estimates of more than 10 million US dollars were made for the first shops between 2018 and 2019.

Yesterday in In the afternoon, a group of business leaders arrived from Santiago de Chile, led by the president of Casaideas, Alejandro Yarad, in order to serve as a host at the opening of the first point that will open tonight in the mall. La Colina, which will offer more than 2,000 products.

After this inauguration, it is planned to open in the coming weeks the second store, located in the shopping center Santafé; both projects were subject to adjustments in spaces greater than 600 square meters. In addition to these openings, the third store will be outside Bogotá for the next year, specifically in the Arauco Premium Outlet in Sopó (commercial space belonging to Arauco Park, identical to Parque La Colina shopping center).

"With the coming into operation in Colombia, we will be more cautious.Although the three stores with which we started are only a first step, that does not mean saying that we will stay there, it will be a progressive plan, "said Yarad.

The brand is not foreign to the country, if we take into account in February 2011, they had already landed in Bogota, but because of a series of financial problems in operations in Latin America, they had to close their two sites (Santafé and Atlantis Plaza), as well as the only store operated in Medellín in El Tesoro in early 2013.

At the time, it was also reported that sales in the stores in Bogotá were low, which prevented the opening of more stores of this type, with other budgets being budgeted.

All this led Casaideas to seek agreements with banks where it had debts such as Bbva, Scotiabank, Rabobank, Santander and BCI for the refinancing of its loans for an amount of 50 million USD. It is currently known that a current debt of about US $ 10 million has already been renegotiated.

The company established in 1993 is currently completing 68 stores in 40 countries, including 20 in Peru, 5 in Bolivia and today. three in Colombia.
Regarding the local operation, Diana Estupiñán was appointed country director of the company's headquarters, which has more than 17 years of experience in the retail business. The executive will be responsible for leading the strategy with which Casaideas will compete in the home and decoration sector, where Homecenter, Home Sentry, Easy and Tugó already are.

More owners for the brand?
In 2017, the United Arab Emirates fund, Abraaj Group, acquired 51% of the shares of Casaideas, which added new partners to the group, of which only the founders Mauricio Russo and Claudia Venegas were. For this reason, new leaders have arrived and with them a more ambitious growth plan. However, it was learned a few months ago that York Capital Management, an entity led by American investor Jamie Dinan, has reportedly launched an offer for the management of Abraaj group funds; if completed, 51% of Casaideas would have new owners.