SPAR

SPAR
Type	Public
Founded	1932
Headquarters	Amsterdam, Netherlands
Industry	Retail
Products	Grocery Stores, Convenience Stores, Discount Stores Hypermarkets, and more
Revenue	▲ € 27 billion (2006)
Website	Spar's Website

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For other uses, see Spar (disambiguation).

SPAR in North-east Copenhagen, Denmark

SPAR is the world’s largest food retailer, with approximately 15,000 stores in 35 countries worldwide^[1]. SPAR originated in the Netherlands in 1932 and now, through its affiliate organisations, operates through most European countries, South Africa, Asia and Australia.^[1] It operates on a principle similar to retailers' co-operatives elsewhere, with owners grouping together to get bulk discounts from suppliers/wholesalers.^[1] Additionally, the purpose of providing procurement, storage, and distribution of fast moving consumer goods to Independent Supermarkets remains vital to the function of the company ^[1].

[edit] Etymology

The name, which was originally DE SPAR, is an acronym formed from the Dutch phrase Door Eendrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig (literally: "through united co-operation everyone regularly profits"). Probably not just by chance, spaar means "save (money)" in Afrikaans, Dutch, Danish, German and Norwegian. De spar in Dutch means "the fir tree", hence SPAR's logo. As the organisation expanded across Europe, the name was later 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).

[edit] History

In 1953 an International SPAR office was 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 South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Australia, Mauritius, China and Japan. In Japan the store operates under the name HOTSPAR, although the store logo colouring remains unchanged. In the United Kingdom SPAR has become known primarily as a convenience store format but in the Republic of Ireland SPAR operates using the subformat EUROSPAR too.

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^[2].

There are a number of sub-brands under the SPAR brand, with larger supermarkets being branded "EUROSPAR" or in Africa "SUPERSPAR", smaller stores "SPAR Express", and hypermarkets "INTERSPAR". Not all of these brands or formats are used in every country, however.

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

The only Drive-Thru Spar in the world is on the Cliftonville Road in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

[edit] 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
"Under the tree, at SPAR" (former Irish slogan, jingle still retained today)
"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
"Dobro zame" ("Good for me"), Slovenian slogan
"There for you", United Kingdom slogan
"Big On Value", "Expect a little more" previous Northern Irish Eurospar slogans, now brought into line with the rest of Ireland under the slogan The Supereasy Supermarket
"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 – Interspar!" ("Everything there – Interspar"), Austrian Interspar slogan.
"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 and Serbian Interspar slogan
"We got Spar", United Kingdom Slogan (1990s)
"Quello che vuoi tu, e un po' di più" ("What you want, and a little more"), Italian slogan

[edit] SPAR international statistics 2006

Country	Sales (thousands)	No. of Stores	Sales Area(m²)	Sales per area	Average Store Size (m²)
Austria	€4,307,010	1,429	980,738	€4,392/m²	686
Italy	€3,788,681	1,892	798,707	€4,744/m²	422
UK	€3,734,850	2,535	361,800	€10,323/m²	143
South Africa	€2,643,232	794	736,434	€3,589/m²	927
Germany	€1,388,648	717	185,870	€7,471/m²	259
Spain	€1,188,330	1,526	394,407	€3,013/m²	258
Ireland	€1,187,000	422	113,506	€10,458/m²	257
Norway	€1,161,159	327	166,711	€6,965/m²	510
Hungary	€975,883	204	236,041	€4,134/m²	1,236
Denmark	€863,868	485	141,710	€6,096/m²	292
France	€834,198	877	220,483	€3,784/m²	251
Japan	€810,530	683	141,318	€5,736/m²	207
Belgium	€655,488	365	144,026	€4,551/m²	395
Greece	€572,741	161	114,554	€5,000/m²	712
Slovenia	€552,800	69	103,556	€5,338/m²	1,644
Finland	€461,000	262	152,790	€3,017/m²	583
Czech Rep.	€420,286	140	127,140	€3,306/m²	908
Netherlands	€377,061	298	89,198	€4,227/m²	299
Switzerland	€295,402	149	57,434	€5,143/m²	385
Russia	€292,752	81	44,481	€6,582/m²	549
Zimbabwe	€160,426	79	42,682	€3,759/m²	540
Poland	€60,388	50	12,799	€4,718/m²	256
Australia	€55,792	46	22,405	€2,490/m²	487
Botswana	€55,038	23	16,972	€3,243/m²	738
Namibia	€54,046	22	20,023	€2,699/m²	910
Croatia*	€49,140	3	13,115	€3,747/m²	4,372
China*	€30,000	17	94,000	€319/m²	5,529
Mauritius	€16,681	6	5,300	€3,147/m²	883
Zambia	€14,626	5	11,801	€1,239/m²	2,360
Ukraine	€13,651	15	3,531	€3,866/m²	441
Romania*	€6,142	8	13,945	€440/m²	1,743
India	€5,000	2	450	€11,111/m²	225
Total	€27,040,849	13,686	5,567,927	€4,856/m²	407