Thousands of customers eager to purchase the limited amount of discounted electronic goods formed long queues overnight and waited for the opening of the doors at 6 a.m. Special security measure were taken to prevent overcrowding in the mall.
Saturn, a German chain of retail consumer electronics stores, launched its first store in Turkey at the İstanbul Forum shopping center with its slogan "Stinginess is cool." The store offers more than 45,000 types of electronic goods in a 4,300-square-meter area. Speaking at the opening ceremony, Yıldırım Karaali, Saturn's country director for operations in Turkey, announced that they would expand in the Turkish market, with four more new stores to be opened by the end of next year. He said they came to Turkey with high targets and that the country offers great opportunities in the electronics marketing sector.
Saturn has numerous branches throughout Europe, including 11 stores in Austria, 12 in Poland, four in Hungary, eight in Spain, 11 in Italy, 25 in France, five in Belgium, five in the Netherlands and two in Greece. The company also has 128 stores in Germany.
With its new store in the shopping center, Teknosa raised its number of stores in İstanbul to 62, with 235 throughout the country. Offering attractive discounts, Teknosa announced in a written statement that more than 10,000 people began to queue up in front of the store 15 hours before the opening to be able to purchase discounted products. The consumers were especially interested in LCD TVs, laptops, digital cameras and mobile phones, according to the statement. Speaking at the opening, Mehmet Nane, Teknosa general director, said that they expected to make a total of $2 million in sales on just the opening day. The company is aiming for a 16 percent growth rate and a total area of 85,000 square meters by the end of the year. Teknosa, which has stores in 65 provinces in Turkey, is working to own stores in all 81 provinces by 2010, the company's 10th anniversary, the statement said.
