Italian grocery retailer Unes has opened its first store entirely dedicated to its premium private label brand Il Viaggiator Goloso (The Gourmet Traveler).
The store, located in Milan’s Via Belisario, aims to build on the positive experience of a temporary store opened for one month during last year’s Christmas festivities.
The new project has a sales area of 750 metres-square and replaces a Unes store that was already on site. The focus is on fresh products (including fruit & vegetables, juices and smoothies), but there is also an organic bakery, sushi corner, and a gastronomy section with both Italian and international products. The store also sells non-food items.
According to the retailer, its premium private label brand has a 9% market share with weekly revenues of over €1.1 million.
The Il Viaggiator Goloso store format will compete in a market segment that already includes strong players such as Eataly and Carrefour (with its Gourmet format).
Unes has over 190 stores in the Italian regions of Lombardy, Piedmont and Emilia-Romagna.
Italian discounter Eurospin opened a similar private label pop-up in Rome's Termini rail station in mid-November.
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
