site.btaPeople’s Store Aims for Nationwide Coverage by 2026, Agriculture Minister Tahov Says

At a hearing at the parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Food and Forestry on Thursday, Agriculture and Food Minister Georgi Tahov said the idea behind the state-run chain of People’s Store is for it to cover the whole territory of Bulgaria in 2026, both through branded stands and shops operating under a franchise model.

Tahov explained that to launch the People’s Store initiative, they first needed existing retail sites with the necessary logistics. According to him, it was not feasible to start from scratch and build new stores. This led to the mid-November agreement with the Central Cooperative Union. He said People’s Store locations will stock over 40 items from the basic consumer basket, sold with a markup of up to 10%. “We are currently supplying the logistics base,” he explained.

Tahov added that the goal is to open more than 70 stores in the Plovdiv region within about ten days, serving over 100,000 people. “Our ambition is for them to start operating in the week of December 15,” he said.