Spar (retailer)

Spar

Type	Public
Industry	Retail
Founded	1932
Headquarters	Amsterdam, Netherlands
Products	Grocery stores, convenience stores, discount stores, hypermarkets and more
Revenue	€31.1 billion (2011)
Website	spar.nl

Spar store in City Tower, Manchester, United Kingdom

Spar (Dutch pronunciation: [spɑr]), trademarked as SPAR, is a Dutch multinational retail chain^[1] and franchise with approximately 12,500 stores in 35 countries worldwide. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932 by retailer Adriaan van Well. Through its affiliate organisations, Spar operates through most European countries, parts of Africa, Asia and Oceania.^[2] Its headquarters are in Amsterdam.^[3]

Etymology

The name was originally DE SPAR, an acronym of the Dutch phrase Door Eendrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig^{[note 1]} (English: through united co-operation everyone regularly profits). De Spar is Dutch for "The spruce", hence Spar's logo. As the organisation expanded across Europe, the name was abbreviated by dropping "DE".

Spar is also the root of the verb which means "to save [money]" in some Germanic (among them German^[4] and Scandinavian) languages.

There are some international naming variants:

• In Italy, the name is still Despar, though in keeping with the international branding, the "Spar" section of the logo is highlighted, and the larger stores are still called Eurospar and Interspar. In Austria, Despar is Spar's Italian food store brand.^[5]
• In Japan some stores operate under the name Hotspar, although the store logo colouring remains unchanged.

History

Spar store in Moerkapelle, Netherlands

Spar was founded in 1932 in the Dutch town of Zegwaart (now Zoetermeer). In 1953 an International Spar office opened in Amsterdam to control and further develop the organisation throughout Europe and other continents. Most Spar stores are in Europe, but they can also be found in a few countries outside of Europe, such as Oman, Nigeria, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Swaziland, Australia,^[6] Mauritius, China, India, Japan, Vanuatu, Greenland^[7] and Angola.

A Spar store may be owned independently, by a franchisee, or be part of a chain, depending on the model applied in any given country. The owners of the parent company vary from country to country and may include the store owners themselves. The name and the current logo was most recently revised in 1968 by Raymond Loewy and has remained unchanged ever since.^[8]

In the United Kingdom Spar has become known primarily as a convenience store, although in Northern Ireland Spar operates using the subformat Eurospar as well. The company also has a large presence in the Republic of Ireland where it also uses the Eurospar subformat. Spar opened in the Republic of Vanuatu on 1 December 2009, ending Au Bon Marché's grocery monopoly.

Since 1996, the company has been a major sponsor of the European Athletic Association and its events.^[9]

In 1997, Spar was introduced to most United Kingdom military bases by Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (Naafi), where it sells a variety of civilian and military products.^[10]

The Dutch Spar is a member of Superunie, an inventory purchasing organization for a number of otherwise unaffiliated supermarket brands.

In July 2014 SPAR Group South Africa opened its first supermarket in Angola. In August 2014 the group acquired 80% of the BWG Group, which had outlets in Ireland and southwest England.^[11]

In 2015 Ahold bought all Czech stores and converted them into Albert super- and hypermarkets, however it had to get rid of some stores in order not to have a monopoly.

The first Spar store in Oman was inaugurated in January 2015 in Muscat. SPAR Oman plans more stores to open in the coming months as part of its expansion plans in Oman.

In March 2015 the first three stores in Indonesia were opened. Twelve stores are planned to open in the country by the end of 2015.

Store types

In most, but not all countries, SPAR operates stores of different types and sub-brands.^[12]

Interspar store in Hungary

Eurospar/Superspar

The Eurospar name is used for this format in Europe and Superspar in South Africa. These are mid-sized supermarkets. They are designed to fit in a niche between convenience stores and traditional supermarkets.

Interspar

These are hypermarkets and compete directly against major international chains such as Real, Carrefour, and Tesco.^[13][14]

Spar Express

A filling station with a Spar Express store in Wattens, Austria

This is the smallest store type. They are designed for small sites and filling station forecourts. They are called Kwikspar in South Africa.

Spar Drive-Thru

There was a Drive-Thru Spar on the Cliftonville Road in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This has now been converted to a Centra Store, and still has a Drive-Thru.^[15]

Spar Gourmet

Some small Spar stores in Austria are called Spar Gourmet since the Austrian Spar Group took over the supermarket chains Julius Meinl in 2000. The standard range is extended to local and global delicacies.^[16]

Company slogans

"Feel the Taste of Spar", Austrian slogan "Alles da da da" ("Everything there there there"), Austrian Interspar slogan "Always close to you", Spanish slogan "Under the tree at spar", Ireland, English language slogan "Baš za mene, Interšpar za mene" (Perfect for me, Interspar for me)—Croatian Interspar slogan "Big On Value", "Expect a little more" previous Northern Irish Eurospar slogans "Dobro zame" ("Good for me"), Slovenian slogan "Du kjenner oss" ("You know us"), Norwegian slogan "Good for you", South African slogan "Jó hely, jó ár, jó döntés!" ("Good Place, Good Price, Good Decision"), most used Hungarian slogan, previously "Frissesség, minőség, árubőség!" ("Freshness, quality, plenty of products!") - was used in catalogs in the 2000s, "Mindig Spar!" ("Always Spar!") - was used in advertisements in the 2000s and "Ön és a Spar, összeillő pár!" ("You and Spar, a matching pair!") - in the 1990s "Live life better", India slogan. "Making everyday better", Australian slogan, previously "Good Food, Easy Shopping" "More passion for good prices", Romanian slogan "My Botswana, My SPAR", Botswana slogan.

"My SPAR", South African slogan "Quello che vuoi tu, e un po' di più" ("What you want, and a little more"), Italian slogan "So near, so Spar", United Kingdom slogan "Spar is de boodschap": the original Dutch slogan (a play on the double meaning of boodschap: "grocery" and "message") "Spar: There for you", current United Kingdom slogan "Spar—der hvor du kan" ("Spar—where you can") a play on SPAR meaning "save (money)" in Danish, current Danish slogan "The Super Easy Supermarket", Irish Eurospar slogan. "There for you", United Kingdom slogan "Under the tree, at Spar" (former Irish slogan, jingle still retained today) "Wat je dichtbij haalt is lekker" ("What you get from close-by, is good" ): the current Dutch slogan; it is a play on the Dutch saying "what you get from far, is good") "We got Spar", United Kingdom slogan (1990s)

• "Mijn buurt, mijn Spar" (My neighbourhood, my Spar) Is the new slogan since 2014

International statistics (2014)

Country	Sales (in 000's)[17]	No. of stores[17]	Sales area (m²)[17]	Sales per area	Average store size (m²)[17]	Year	Nationwide owner
Angola	€6,558	1	1,200	€5,465/m²	1,200	2014	The SPAR Group Ltd.
Australia	€178,801	128	43,250	€4,134/m²	338	1994	SPAR Australia
Austria	€5,910,000	1,539	1,089,677	€5,424/m²	708	1954	SPAR Austria Group[18]
Azerbaijan						2015	AZretail MMC
Belgium	€887,266	281	141,799	€6,257/m²	505	1947	Colruyt and Lambrechts
Botswana	€117,548	28	28,793	€4,083/m²	1,028	2004	The SPAR Group Ltd.
Cameroon						2015	SPAR Cameroon
China	€1,786,000	299	955,833	€1,869/m²	3,197	2004	SPAR China
Croatia	€317,936	50	87,384	€3,638/m²	1,748	2004	SPAR Austria Group[18]
Denmark	€868,835	198	141,821	€6,126/m²	716	1954	SPAR Denmark
France	€964,328	937	245,166	€3,933/m²	262	1955	Casino
Georgia	€4,584	6	1,032	€4,442/m²	172	2014	Foodmart
Germany	€310,000	425	34,799	€8,908/m²	82	1953	Edeka
Greece	€525,601	184	141,107	€3,725/m²	767	1969	Veropoulos
Hungary	€1,539,674	419	404,691	€3,805/m²	966	1992	SPAR Austria Group[18]
India	€35,630	16	71,522	€0,498/m²	4,470	2014	Max Hypermarkets
Indonesia		7				2015	Ramayana Lestari Sentosa
Ireland	€1,101,190	424	112,742	€9,767/m²	266	1963	BWG Foods
Italy	€3,119,453	1,385	790,969	€3,944/m²	571	1959	SPAR Austria Group[18]
Japan	€48,402	74	8,173	€5,922/m²	110	1997	Hokkaido SPAR
Malawi	€1,460	1	1,650	€0,885/m²	1,650	2014	SPAR Malawi
Mauritius	€20,952	6	5,700	€3,676/m²	950	2000	Casino
Mozambique	€40,271	3	6,451	€6,243/m²	2,150	2012	The SPAR Group Ltd.
Namibia	€132,053	28	30,517	€4,327/m²	1,090	2004	The SPAR Group Ltd.
Netherlands	€431,618	244	98,506	€4,382/m²	404	1932	SPAR Holding B.V.
Nigeria	€63,975	6	7,826	€8,175/m²	1,304	2009	SPAR Nigeria
Norway	€1,493,971	265	153,194	€9,752/m²	578	1984	NorgesGruppen
Oman						2015	Khimji Ramdas
Poland	€153,968	186	48,229	€3,192/m²	259	1995	SPAR Polska
Portugal	€66,875	96	31,581	€2,118/m²	329	2006	Novo Retalho
Qatar						2016	Qatar National Import and Export Co.
Russia	€1,443,675	420	285,199	€5,062/m²	679	2000	SPAR Russia
Slovenia	€729,574	92	146,873	€4,967/m²	1,596	1992	SPAR Austria Group[18]
South Africa	€4,255,000	821	933,886	€4,556/m²	1,137	1963	The SPAR Group Ltd.
Spain	€1,312,472	1,146	436,538	€3,007/m²	381	1959	SPAR Española
Switzerland	€498,919	181	74,228	€6,721/m²	410	1989	SPAR Handels AG
Ukraine	€12,200	11	7,700	€1,584/m²	700	2001	SPAR Luhansk SPAR Kharkiv
United Arab Emirates	€54,488	4	6,200	€8,788/m²	1,550	2011	SPAR United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom	€3,193,224	2,352	350,240	€9,117/m²	149	1956	SPAR UK
Zambia	€79,106	15	26,974	€2,933/m²	1,798	2003	SPAR Zambia
Zimbabwe	€156,467	43	30,381	€5,150/m²	707	1969

See also

Notes

1. Dutch pronunciation: [doːr eːnˈdrɑxtɪx ˈsaːmə(n)ʋɛrkə(n) proːfiˈteːrə(n) ˈɑlə(n) reːɣəlˈmaːtəx]

References

1. "SPAR corporate nationality - SPAR". Spar.ie. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
2. "SPAR Countries - SPAR". Spar-int.com. Archived from the original on 29 June 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
3. "Contact Information - SPAR". Spar-int.com. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
4. "Englisch-Deutsch Wörterbuch". LEO. Retrieved 2015-03-01.
5. "DESPAR" (in German). SPAR Österreich. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
6. "SPAR Australia opens first Vanuatu store: AUS - Analysis". Web.archive.org. 2012-04-02. Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 2016-01-10.
7. "Cool Nordic". YouTube. 2013-02-14. Retrieved 2015-02-25.
8. "SPAR". Raymond Loewy Foundation. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
9. "Athletics, Sprints & Sports Days". Web.archive.org. 2009-10-09. Archived from the original on 9 October 2009. Retrieved 2016-01-10.
10. http://web.archive.org/web/20120406192557/http://www.thegrocer.co.uk/articles.aspx?page=articles&ID=31040. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 27 November 2011. Missing or empty |title= (help)
11. Mark Allix (2014-08-12). "Spar buys stake in Irish supermarkets | Retail & Consumer". BDlive. Retrieved 2015-02-25.
12. Eric Pfanner (2004-11-12). "An international grocery giant is emerging from the shadows - The New York Times". NYTimes.com. Retrieved 2015-02-25.
13. "SPAR to open 24 more hypermarkets in next two years". Sify.com. 28 January 2011. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
14. Boulder Brands CEO Stephen Hughes (3 February 2011). "Spar looks to expand Czech supermarket chain". Just-food.com. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
15. Northern Ireland Assembly Information Office. "Northern Ireland Assembly Committee for Social Development - Inquiry into Town Centre Regeneration Report: 14/09/10R". Archive.niassembly.gov.uk. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
16. derStandard.at (24 February 2008). "Chronologie: Von Konsum bis Rewe - Handel - derStandard.at " Wirtschaft". Derstandard.at. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
17. Annual Report 2014. SPAR Worldwide.
18. "ASPIAG Countries". www.aspiag.com. Retrieved 2016-04-09.

External links

Media related to SPAR (category) at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• SPAR Worldwide - Annual Report 2014