Spar (retailer)

Spar

Type	Public
Industry	Retail
Founded	1932
Headquarters	Amsterdam, Netherlands
Products	Grocery Stores, Convenience Stores, Discount Stores Hypermarkets, and more
Revenue	€ 29.7 billion (2010)
Website	http://www.spar-int.com/ www.spar-international.com/ www.spar-strategy2sustain.com/

A 24-hours SPAR Store in City Tower, Manchester City Centre, UK.

InterSpar hypermarket in Miskolc, Hungary

Spar (styled SPAR), trades from approximately 12500 stores in 34 countries worldwide and is the world's largest independent voluntary retail trading chain. Spar was founded in the Netherlands in 1932 by retailer Adriaan Van Well and now, through its affiliate organisations, operates through most European countries, parts of Africa, Asia and Australia. It has its headquarters in Amsterdam.

Etymology

The name was originally DE SPAR, an acronym of the Dutch phrase Door Eendrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig (literally: "through united co-operation everyone regularly profits"). Spaar or spar means "save (money)" in Afrikaans, Dutch, Danish, German, Swedish and Norwegian. "De Spar" is Dutch for "The Fir", hence Spar's logo. As the organisation expanded across Europe, the name was abbreviated by dropping "DE", but the underlying meaning remains. 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 Japan the store operates under the name Hotspar, although the store logo colouring remains unchanged.

History

Spar was founded in 1932 in the Dutch city of 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 Nigeria, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Swaziland, Australia, Mauritius, China, India, Japan and Vanuatu.

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 only common link between the stores in different countries is the branding—the name and the current logo, which was most recently revised in 1968 by Raymond Loewy and has remained unchanged ever since.

In the United Kingdom Spar has become known primarily as a convenience store, although in Northern Ireland Spar operates using the subformat Eurospar too. Spar opened in the Republic of Vanuatu on the 1st December 2009 ending Au Bon Marché's grocery monopoly.

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.

Sub Brands

InterSpar These are hypermarkets and compete directly against major international chains such as Real, Carrefour and Tesco.

EuroSpar & Super Spar The EuroSpar name is used for this format in Europe and SuperSpar in Africa. These are mid-sized supermarkets. They are designed to fit in a niche between convenience stores and traditional supermarkets.

Spar Express (KwikSpar in Denmark and South Africa) This is the smallest store type. They are designed for small sites and service station forecourts.

Spar Drive-Thru There is a Drive-Thru Spar on the Cliftonville Road in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Not all of these brands or formats are used in every country.

The company has been a major sponsor of the European Athletic Association and its events since 1996.

Company slogans

• "Spar is de boodschap": the original Dutch slogan (a play on the double meaning of boodschap: "grocery" and "message")
• "Wat je dichtbij haalt is lekker" ("What you get from close-by, is good" ) : the current Dutch slogan; it's a play on the Dutch saying "what you get from far, is good")
• "So near, so Spar", United Kingdom slogan
• "There for you", United Kingdom slogan
• "We got Spar", United Kingdom Slogan (1990s)
• "Spar: There for you", current United Kingdom slogan
• "Du kjenner oss" ("You know us"), Norwegian slogan
• "More passion for good prices", Romanian slogan
• "Always close to you", Spanish slogan
• "Good for you", South African slogan
• "My SPAR", South African slogan
• "Dobro zame" ("Good for me"), Slovenian slogan
• "Big On Value", "Expect a little more" previous Northern Irish Eurospar slogans
• "Under the tree, at Spar" (former Irish slogan, jingle still retained today)
• "Always there for you", Republic of Ireland slogan
• "The Super Easy Supermarket", Irish Eurospar slogan.
• "Making everyday better", Australian slogan, previously "Good Food, Easy Shopping"
• "Alles da da da" ("Everything there there there"), Austrian Interspar slogan.
• "Feel the Taste of Spar", Austrian slogan
• "Mindig Spar" ("Always Spar"), most used Hungarian slogan
• "Baš za mene, Interšpar za mene" (Perfect for me, Interspar for me) – Croatian Interspar slogan
• "Quello che vuoi tu, e un po' di più" ("What you want, and a little more"), Italian slogan
• "Spar — der hvor du kan" ("Spar — Where you can") a play on SPAR meaning "save (money)" in Danish, current Danish slogan
• "Live life better" , India Slogan.

International statistics 2010

Country	Sales (thousands)	No. of stores	Sales area(m²)	Sales per area	Average store size (m²)	Brand Owner
Austria	€5,127,540	1,442	1,049,112	€4,392/m²	728	ASPIAG
Italy	€3,631,029	1,485	812,000	€4,744/m²	547	10 licence partners
United Kingdom	€3,091,922	2,560	399,425	€10,323/m²	156	5 owners
South Africa	€4,456,496	803*	861,488	€3,589/m²	1,073
Germany	€332,972	309	26,280	€7,471/m²	85	SPAR Handels AG
Spain	€1,121,164	917	311,843	€3,013/m²	340	Spar Española
Ireland	€1,173,530	444	121,303	€10,458/m²	273	BWG Foods
Norway	€1,418,499	296	165,371	€6,965/m²	559
Hungary	€1,370,404	398	399,530	€4,134/m²	1,004	ASPIAG
Denmark	€1,108,279	520	176,748	€6,096/m²	340
France	€968,730	941	237,370	€3,784/m²	252
Japan	€81,443	91	9,751	€5,736/m²	107
Belgium	€783,191	309	138,499	€4,551/m²	448
Greece	€705,397	189	140,960	€5,000/m²	746	Veropoulos
Slovenia	€693,911	82	136,083	€5,338/m²	1,647	ASPIAG
Czech Republic	€522,425	129	151,598	€3,306/m²	1,175	ASPIAG
Netherlands	€496,296	302	121,616	€4,227/m²	403
Switzerland	€440,659	158	68,285	€5,143/m²	432
Russia	€774,604	233	126,787	€6,582/m²	544
Zimbabwe	€194,339	69	40,661	€3,759/m²	589
Poland	€72,536	61	14,758	€4,718/m²	242
Australia	€147,876	100	35,575	€2,490/m²	356
Botswana	€98,361	26	23,183	€3,243/m²	892
Namibia	€110,621	26	26,298	€2,699/m²	1,011
Croatia	€233,018	18	66,937	€3,747/m²	3,719	ASPIAG
China	€404,953	125	544,650	€319/m²	4,357
Mauritius	€20,830	7	6,100	€3,147/m²	871
Zambia	€53,499	7	14,073	€1,239/m²	2,010
Ukraine	€51,028	31	24,899	€3,866/m²	803
Romania	€10,000	7	3,000	€440/m²	429
India	€45,274	10	23,525	€11,111/m²	4,705	Max Hypermarket

• Including stores (4) in Swaziland.

External links

• Spar Annual Report 2009
• Official website
• Yahoo! – SPAR Handels-Aktiengesellschaft Company Profile (2,500+1,175+200 stores)
• Yahoo! – SPAR (UK) Limited Company Profile (2,600 stores)