Marele Pescar is one of Romania’s most recognized fishing equipment retailers, serving both hobbyists and professional anglers. Their online store has been built and refined over more than a decade, with layers of customizations and legacy functionality accumulated over the years. Modernizing such a platform isn’t just a matter of design. But also about keeping a delicate balance between performance, usability, and preserving everything that already works.
How our collaboration started
At the moment we started to discuss, the client had recently installed the Hyvä theme on their Magento store. Hyvä brings major performance and frontend improvements, but switching a theme at that time was not a plug-and-play option… especially when the store relies on years of custom modules and business-critical functionalities.
They reached out to us to help with the next steps:
- Improving the UI and extending the functionality of the default Hyvä My Account section.
- Upgrading the Magento & Hyvä theme to the latest versions.
The goal was clear: modernize the store without breaking anything their customers relied on.
“From a developer’s perspective, this project was like untangling a decade of code. Every module and customization had dependencies we needed to respect, and even small changes could ripple across the system. The challenge was to understand the history behind every feature and rebuild it in such way to be futureproofed for the upcoming upgrades.” – Sami, backend developer.
What we delivered
Our team took on the challenge and delivered a full Magento upgrade. This wasn’t just pressing a button. It meant:
- Reviewing all existing modules and rewriting or adapting them to be futureproofed for upgrades.
- Preserving critical workflows, especially checkout and navigation.
- Ensuring the platform was stable and maintainable for the future.
Here’s a sneak peak of the outcome
My account: before & after:
Wishlist: before & after
Contact page map: before & after
Feel free to check out the final result, here: https://marelepescar.ro.
Challenges and how we overcame them
The main challenge was the complexity of legacy code. The platform had years of interconnected customizations, and even small changes could affect multiple areas. Some modules weren’t originally built with standard practices, and certain extensions didn’t play nicely with Hyvä.
We approached these challenges systematically:
- Understanding how each module worked and how it interacted with the rest of the system.
- Rewriting or adjusting modules to ensure the best Hyvä compatibility.
- Ensuring critical flows like checkout and product navigation worked exactly as they had before.
It was an interesting challenge to improve the look and functionality of the ‘My Account’ section on Marele Pescar’s platform. That’s the kind of upgrade every online store should consider to give customers a smoother way to manage their orders. Collaboration flowed easily thanks to the client’s openness and clear understanding of how to balance existing improved features with legacy systems. This made finding practical solutions much simpler.
Sorin, frontend developer.
What’s next?
Today, Baldwin continues to support Marele Pescar with on-demand development, handling tasks that the internal team can’t take on. Looking forward, we’re planning backend refinements that will make future upgrades even smoother, so the platform can evolve confidently without repeating the same challenges.
