Patron-Microbist, Policy at the counter and traditional products on the chosen

The Romanian business established in Graz animates the communities of compatriots in Austria. Close to the center of the second largest city in Austria, The reporters of the Sports Gazette have discovered a Romanian business that has been operating uninterrupted for more than a decade and which has expanded in other cities in the country that did not want us in Schengen.

There are 12 stores with Romanian products throughout Austria

From Vienna to Klagenfurt, Salzburg or Linz, Romanians can buy products with the authentic taste from home, from food stores, which are not missing any Romanian product.

“We opened the first store in 2014, even in Graz. Austria was, for us, a transit country to the house, coming from Spain. This is how the idea came to us,” the story begins, excited out of the way when he heard that the Romanian journalists had passed the threshold of the shop.

“I inaugurated the store in the year we settled in Graz, and people come and buy everything they lack in Romania. Currently, we have come to have 12 points”he adds.

Over 8.2% of the population in Graz E in Romania

According to the data available on January 1, 2025, a little over 306,000 people with main residence lived in Graz. Of these, almost 44,000 were citizens of the European Union. The number of Romanians established in Graz exceeds 25,000.

“For two years, The Romanian community was clearly set in the second place. In the first place are the Germans. I surpassed those in Serbia, Turkey or Bosnia and Herzegovina. Romanians are constantly growing ”, points out Adelin Cosmeiu.

A family business with own distribution fleet

In addition to the 12 stores open throughout Austria, Adelin Cosmeiu's business is one hundred percent.

“We have 27 employees and they are all Romanian. We met many of them here in Austria, and we hired them in our stores. We also have a central warehouse, where we collect all the goods that comes from Romania. Then, with our own distribution fleet, we supply the shops. Small steps but made with passion and a lot of work“Says Adelin.

Even he works in one of the Romanian stores he has opened in Austria.

“This young generation will save Romania, they are the future”

While stopping the GSP team at Graz, it was raining with a bucket! An unexpected torrential had darkly darkened the landscape, without the flow of customers in the store.

Two women, mother and daughter, surprised by the unusual visitors in the store, extended their shopping visit and wanted to intervene in the dialogue carried by reporters with the salesman. They had bought bread and a few packs of butter and did not hesitate to praise the sausages and bacon from Romania, products that, they say, do not compare to those in the Austrian trade.

From the Romanian cuisine, the discussion deviates to the elections. The ladies dressed simply initiate on their own initiative a conversation with political connotations. “We have been here for 11 years, we have been before and in Germany. We would have returned to the country if Călin Georgescu came out. So … we are thinking”says my mother.

“The young generation will save Romania, they are the future, they are intelligent people. Too bad that, for now, they have chosen what they chose … Did you look at this, at Nicușor Dan? Is this a president? ”.

“I was not voting, nothing changes anyway”

Beyond the counter, among the boxes of pate, cans of meat, jars with zacusca and compote from Romania, the seller, younger and less eager to express their political preferences, tempers the clients enthusiasm.

“I was not voting, nothing changes anyway!”she confesses, gesturing from her hands and scanning the product for the product for the Romanians who cross the store's threshold.

“I work alone here. Basically, it's like my shop. From one to two I have a break, and when I'm on leave, the boys come from the warehouse and I replace,” he says.

Explain to us and how sales are going, but also what products are best sold: “The little ones and the sausages are in the top, normal. The Romanians pass the threshold in a proportion of 90%.

The employer is a worse microbiologist: “I keep with the star! I mean with FCSB”

In addition to the passion for trade, inherited from his parents, Adelin Cosmeiu, the owner of the store, is also a great microbiologist: “As a child, the path of love for football was opened by Hagi and the company, with the Golden Generation”.

The national team occupies a special place in the heart of the Romanian born and raised in Drobeta Turnu Severin: “With good and bad, I was always with the national team. I went to dozens of matches, I also checked the European Youth in Italy, and now I do not miss the matches with Spain and Slovakia, in Bratislava”.

Adelin Cosmeiu (white) alongside national team players

Asked which team is in the internal championship, the answer comes without hesitation: “My soul team is Steaua. I mean FCSB. That FCSB is Steaua!”, Adelin concludes the dialogue with the GSP team.

A few prices from the store

• Prices are expressed in lei