At the end of its first year of operation, Spar Albania has said that it now operates over 30 stores in nine cities across the country.
The retailer, which commenced operations in Albania in October 2016, said it plans to open two more stores by the end of the year, which would bring its total retail sales space in Albania to over 13,500 square metres.
Originally launched in the city of Tiranë, the expansion has seen Spar become available to customers in a number of other cities in the Balkan state, including Durrës, Elbasan, Shkodër, Gjirokastër, Pogradec, Sarandë and Vlorë, according to the company.
“Spar Albania now serves an estimated 30,000 customers per day and employs approximately 500 people across its Hypermarkets and Spar Supermarkets,” it said.
Spar Albania’s range of 40,000 SKUs includes 3,000 own brand items, including several Western European products sourced from partner countries such as Italy as well as from the Spar International trading division in the Netherlands, according to the retailer.
Aiming For The Top
The retailer said it plans to become the largest grocery retailer in the country. Its master franchisee, the Baltic Finance Investment Group (Balfin), plans to invest over €50 million in expanding its retail network in the future.
The largest retailer in the country is local chain Big Market, which operates 100 supermarkets. The country is still dominated by traditional food market formats, with only organised retail accounting for only 15%.
The only other international player of note is the Italian chain Conad, which s the second-largest grocery retailer in the country. But the Balfin Group intends to add 20 additional outlets next year which will see it overtake Conad.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Kevin Duggan. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
