Continente (Supermarket)

For the Peruvian airline, see Nuevo Continente.
Solouet
Subsidiary
Industry Retail
Founded Matosinhos, Portugal (1985 (1985))
Headquarters Matosinhos, Portugal
Number of locations
415 stores (2010)
Products Grocery
General merchandise
Financial services
Revenue Increase 3.275 million (2010)[1]
Increase 147 million (2010)[1]
Number of employees
28,150 (2010)[1]
Parent Sonae
Website www.continente.pt
Logo of Continente Spermercados

Continente is a retail chain that belongs to Sonae Distribuição, the largest retailer in Portugal.[2] The hypermarket Continente chain is in spread all over Portugal as well on Madeira and in Azores. The supermarket chain Continente Modelo, formerly named just Modelo, has also a nationwide presence. Sonae Distribuição, SGPS, SA, is a subsidiary company of Sonae SGPS.

History

Sonae Distribuição started in 1985 by the merger of two large retailers, Modelo and Continente. Modelo was owned by the Sonae holding, while Continente was the Portuguese and Spanish operation of the French retailer Promodès, known by the ensign Continent elsewhere.

Thus, it was part-owned by its French competitor, Carrefour, who sold their stake to Sonae for 345 million on 16 November 2004.[3]

In 2008, Carrefour sold its Portuguese retail ventures existing under the Carrefour ensign to Sonae. Continente used to have one branch in Dubai, which was later purchased by Carrefour. The Continente ensign disappeared from Spain after the 1999 Carrefour-Promodès merge.

Store formats

The supermarket chain operates three main store formats; regular Continente stores, Continente Bom Dia (convenience stores and smaller supermarkets in urban locations, designed for more frequent purchases of everyday life, 800 m2 (8,600 sq ft)) and Continente Modelo stores (hypermarkets of proximity, with an area of about 2,000 m2 (22,000 sq ft)).

At the end of its 2009/10 financial year Continente store portfolio was as follows.[1]

Format Number Total Space (m2)
Continente 40
Continente Modelo 130
Well's 133
Bom Bocado 87
Book.it 17
Other 8
Total 415 544,000

See also

References

External links

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