Spar International has announced the formation of a new Greek entity, Spar Hellas, with plans to develop more than 350 stores across Greece in the next four years.
Spar Hellas has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Asteras Group in order to develop its Spar brand presence in the country.
Store Conversion
Over the next three years, Asteras is to convert most of its existing 200 stores to the Spar brand, and it has also entered into a joint cooperation agreement with the Mesis Hellas group, which could see that number increase substantially. In addition, Spar Hellas intends to open new, company-owned stores.
The first ten stores under the Spar Hellas banner are to open in Greece by July, and the group hopes to have as many as 80 stores in operation by the end of 2018.
Modern Network
“Spar is establishing [itself] in Greece in order to develop the most modern cooperative network of independent retail stores in the country,” commented Fivos Karakitsos, chief executive of Spar Hellas (pictured).
“The combination of Greek retailers’ excellent local knowledge with Spar’s international best practice and global brand will result in innovative store layouts for the customer, excellent fresh products, a wide range of private-label products, and value for money,” added Karakitsos.
Karakitsos went on to state that the business’s vision is for Spar Hellas to go on to be one of the strongest retail players in the Greek market.
“We are excited to play our part in strengthening the Greek economy,” he said.
On Asteras’s cooperation agreement with Spar Hellas, the group’s president, George Papantonis, said that the agreement sets a “totally new trajectory” for the business.
“With the increased cooperation through partnerships like the one with Mesis, we can achieve the union of the convenience business for Greece under the brand of Spar. Our target is that by the year 2021, Asteras will report more than €1.20 billion in sales and a market share that will be well over 12% in total,” said Papantonis.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
