So, normally it’s a big focus also on small companies, entrepreneurs regardless of their (ph) super specific for sector. So, when we increase the cost of construction, the inflation was quite perverse, not only in the food sector, but this has increased costs especially for the new stores. So now on organic store, you have a big variation depending on the region you’re building in, the area of the store and level of the foundation, but an organic store could cost BRL80 million or even more than this depending on the level of the foundation you’re going to use for the store. So, of course, there have been more investments in — and some evolution in these stores, which also impacted our cost with conversions. And we had estimated initial costs at a comparable base from an organic store of about BRL45 million, and this number has gone over.
And, of course, it depends on the construction work and even considering the size of these units that were converted. So, we have stores that have over 10,000 square meters. And there was also a concern on our behalf with making the stores really reach new conditions, right, to avoid costs of maintenance so high and avoid renewals or renovations in a short period of time. Sometimes you save initially, but that’s going to cause your OpEx and maintenance costs in the short period of time. So, if you had the opportunity to get to visit the stores, you’ll see that they really have new conditions.
Vinicius Strano: Thank you, Belmiro. Perfect.
Operator: So, our next question is from Vinicius Pretto, sell-side analyst at Bank of America. Vinicius, we will enable your mic, so that you may proceed.
Vinicius Pretto: Good morning, everyone, thanks for taking the question, and congrats on the results. We wanted to know if you guys had seen any lessons learned with the different initiatives with services and assortment. And if it is adapted, led to any kind of changes with the new store conversions?
Belmiro de Gomes: Yes, there are some lessons learned. Of course, these are acquired not only in the stores, but also in the organic expansion plan we had. So, some of these services had some pilot projects that we worked on that did not continue, and many of them were continued expanding to the existing store park. So, in the last year, we opened over 100 factories. And there’s, of course, depending on the region, you have a different level of need, but this is part of this evolution in the model to be able to penetrate other social levels, of course. And obviously there is store network with the different locations that gives us a base of knowledge and lessons and it’s very significant. So, when we look at improvements and other points that we also think we have room for when you look at a consumer with higher income level, more availability as well to have a bit more expense in the sector as long as we can offer an adequate proposal, of course, keeping the confidentiality of each business model.
But yes, a lots of lesson learned.
Operator: All right. So, the next question is from Ruben Couto, sell-side analyst from Santander. Ruben, we will enable your audio, so you may proceed.
Ruben Couto: Good morning, everyone. How’s it going? Let me talk about the increment and productivity about BRL4,500 to BRL4,700 now and the end of the year with conversions. And I wanted to understand about this number? Is it exclusively in the state of Sao Paulo, in the metropolitan region of Sao Paulo? I thought this was really interesting considering the level of maturity of the recently opened stores and converted stores. And also, there is a concern that some people had about cannibalization. When we look at this cannibalization topic, how has the level been in the converted stores that are close to those that already existed, where there was already some kind of installed store? Has there been any adjustment or is this in line with what was expected?
