“In Bulgaria we invested in good locations at a time when the market was only starting to take shape and now these investments are paying off,” said Evtimov.

Bulgarian company Doverie Brico, which holds the rights of the French Do It Yourself (DIY) retailer Mr. Bricolage for Bulgaria, FYRMacedonia and Serbia, is in negotiations to expand its franchise across the region – to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Kosovo, Andrei Evtimov, Mr. Bricolage’s managing director for Bulgaria, said, quoted by Dnevnik daily. “We expect to wrap up the negotiations with the French company soon,” he added.

Established in 1999 expressly to introduce the French brand to Bulgaria, Doverie Brico currently operates 10 outlets in the country and is working on projects in Serbia and FYRMacedonia. It would also like to promote the Mr. Bricolage products in other of the region's markets.

There is large potential in Albania, Kosovo and some of the ex-Yugoslav countries, since their market is still underdeveloped, Evtimov pointed out.

“In Bulgaria we invested in good locations at a time when the market was only starting to take shape and now these investments are paying off,” said Evtimov.

The company plans to open at least one, possibly two, stores in Serbia and at least one outlet in FYRMacedonia by the end of 2009.

Mr.Bricolage's main competition on the Bulgarian market is its German counterpart Praktiker.

The Austrian home improvement retailer BauMax is poised to join the DIY market this year.

Doverie Brico, which owns the Mr. Bricolage franchise for Bulgaria, FYRMacedonia and Serbia, will embark on a regional expansion, planning to open its flagship store outside Bulgaria in Nis, southern Serbia. Over the next few years, Doverie Brico plans to develop four more Serbian stores

Ground-breaking will take place within a week, the company said. The investor, Brico Spec, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Doverie Brico, should plough EUR 9 million into the project.

Its Albanian, division, Brico Iliria, has already purchased a 24,000 sq m site in the capital city of Tirana.

The first DIY chain to set foot in Bulgaria, today Mr. Bricolage competes on the market with Germany’s Praktiker, which stepped in back in 2004, and Austria’s bauMax, which entered in 2008. German chain OBI has been studying the market for several years.