Introduction to John Rombouts, partner in Russia

As of January this year, John Rombouts joined M2Leisure, specialized in leisure development in Russia.  John will spectrum small scale projects from Family Entertainment Center’s to complete leisure park developments.

About John Rombouts

John currently lives in the Moscow vicinity and has operated the industries of retail and leisure in both Moscow and St. Petersburg for 8 years. During his time in Moscow he has comprehensively created, designed, launched and managed two supermarket chains in the region of Moscow which now comprises 35 supermarkets with a significant visitor count. Prior to the immersing in the Russian market, John has done works as a manager at Vroom & Dreesmann (Netherlands), developing Batavia Stad (the first and still currently one of the most visited outlet centers in the Netherlands) as a manager and marketing controller for Makro-Metro (an international Dutch based chain of a warehouse supermarket) and at Center Parcs Europe (responsible for all retail activities in the European region). John has also been responsible for several impressive “turn-arounds” (Vobis, Kral, Bike+) and had his own catering company in Spain.

Leisure opportunities in Russia

“…for me it is absolutely unbelievable. Russia, Moscow specifically is very ready for a complete leisure park offer, but it still doesn’t exist” John says. “I’ve been here for 8 years now and have already been thinking about how to initiate activities in the field”. It has become apparently valuable to combine these opportunities by the cooperation of Joined Resources Russia (John’s company) and M2Leisure. John has been able to nurture connections with the federal and local Governments during the 8 years which will prove vital for land plots, permits, land destination changes and investments.

John continues; “Moscow is very, very crowded. This causes pressure and tension in this big city, and all the Moscow inhabitants are looking for an opportunity for a good short break holiday. And the same goes for the other 18 million inhabitants living in the Moscow Region. We are talking about a combined 35 million inhabitants here. The income level has increased in the last years, especially in Moscow and the Moscow region. Moscow is growing extremely fast with completely new micro regions and high-rise apartment buildings of 22 to 25 levels opening every year. More and more, Russian people are moving to Moscow and the region and there is a fantastic opportunity to introduce an international oriented Leisure offer here.”

Next to potential Leisure Parks in Russia, Joined Resources is also active in re-positioning trade centers in Moscow and the Moscow region which will also entail several Leisure projects expected to start on short notice. Next to his entrepreneurial and managerial disposition, John also likes to focus on greenfield start-ups of large scaled projects.