Spar (retailer)
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SPAR, originally "DESPAR", styled as "DE SPAR"<ref>The first DESPAR store, opened in the Netherlands, 1932. Spar International. Archived 2017-06-06.</ref> (Template:IPA), is a Dutch multinational franchise that provides branding, supplies and support services for independently owned and operated food retail stores.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932,<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref> by Adriaan van Well, although the largest number of stores are located in the United Kingdom.
Its headquarters are in Amsterdam. The company operates a partnership programme and has a presence in most European countries, as well as throughout Asia, Africa and Oceania.
In fiscal year 2022, SPAR earned €43.5 billion in global sales,<ref name="SparAnnualReview" /> which represented a 5.6 percent increase over the previous year.<ref name="SparAnnualReview" />
By 2024, the group had 13,900 stores in 48 countries.<ref name="About Us">Template:Cite web.</ref>
Etymology
The name was originally DESPAR, an acronym of the Dutch phrase Template:Lang<ref group=note>Template:IPA</ref> Template:Gloss, which was used by Van Well to describe the brand.<ref name="history">Template:Cite web</ref> The acronym was chosen to resonate with the verb Template:Wikt-lang,Template:Cn which (related to English spare) means "save [money]" in Dutch and some other languages, among them German<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Scandinavian languages (with variants such as Template:Lang or Template:Lang). Template:Lang is Dutch for "spruce tree", after which the logo was chosen. As the organisation expanded across Europe, the name was abbreviated by dropping the DE prefix.<ref name="history" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
There are some international naming variants:
- In Hungary, 17 stores owned by SPAR located at Orlen (former Lukoil) filling stations operate under the name DESPAR.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> However, there are also many SPAR and INTERSPAR locations.
- 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 shops are still called EuroSPAR and InterSPAR.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- In Austria, DESPAR is SPAR's Italian food product range.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> There are also EUROSPAR and INTERSPAR locations within Austria.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- In Croatia, SPAR and INTERSPAR locations run concurrently.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- In Saudi Arabia, the Latin letters SPAR are displayed next to the Arabic Template:Lang (Template:Transliteration).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- In Iran, it is called Template:Lang (Template:Lang).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- In China, it is known as Template:Lang (Template:Transliteration, "Siba supermarket").<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- In Ireland, Northern Ireland, Russia and Switzerland, both the SPAR and EUROSPAR names are used with EUROSPAR being used mostly for larger supermarket sized stores and SPAR for smaller convenience stores.
- In Slovenia, both SPAR and INTERSPAR are used, with INTERSPAR being used for a larger supermarket sized stores and SPAR for smaller convenience stores<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
History
20th century
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Spar was founded in 1932 in Zegwaart, Netherlands. In 1953, an International Spar office opened in Amsterdam to manage international expansion. Spar shops can be found in Europe, Australia, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Israel, Nigeria, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Cameroon, China, and India.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Spar opened in Vanuatu on 1 December 2009, ending Au Bon Marché's grocery monopoly.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
A Spar shop may be owned independently, by a franchise, 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 shop owners themselves. The name and the current logo was most recently revised in 1968 by Raymond Loewy and has since remained unchanged.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In the United Kingdom, Spar was founded in 1959 and may be a supermarket or a convenience shop. In 1997, Spar was introduced to most United Kingdom military bases by the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (Naafi), where it sells a variety of civilian and military products.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Dead link</ref> In Ireland and Northern Ireland, the Spar brand is known for neighbourhood shops and also the subformat Eurospar acting as mini-supermarkets.Template:Citation needed
Since 1996, the company has been a major sponsor of the European Athletic Association and its events.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Spar stores in the Netherlands are members of Superunie, an inventory purchasing organisation for a number of otherwise unaffiliated supermarket brands.Template:Citation needed
In 1988, SPAR South Africa became a wholly owned subsidiary of Tiger Brands, a holding company with a large diversified portfolio. It was unbundled and listed as a separate company in 2004.<ref>Trade Intelligence – SPAR, accessed 2 October 2010</ref>
21st century
In July 2014, SPAR South Africa opened its first supermarket in Angola but no expansion of the brand is planned for this market. Since 2021, the group has 100% of BWG Foods, which had outlets in Ireland and southern Britain.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2015, Ahold acquired all 35 hypermarkets and 14 supermarkets from Spar Czechia for more than 5.2 billion Czech koruna.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and converted them into Albert super- and hypermarkets. However, it had to divest itself of some shops in order not to have a monopoly.Template:Citation needed
The first SPAR shop in Oman was inaugurated in January 2015, in Muscat.Template:Citation needed Spar Oman had plans to open more shops over time as part of its expansion plans in Oman.Template:Citation needed Spar opened its first store in Qatar in 2017, with the second store opening in 2018. A further two stores were planned to open in 2018, but it got cancelled.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
SPAR opened in Saudi Arabia in 2017, sublicensed to Al-Sadhan Group <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> opening its first stores in Riyadh.
In 2017, Ceylon Biscuits Limited in Sri Lanka acquired a license to operate the Spar brand in Sri Lanka as Spar Lanka. This is a joint venture of Ceylon Biscuits Limited and SPAR South Africa.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> They opened the first store in Thalawathugoda, Colombo. The plan is to open 50 outlets in the country by 2023.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2020, there were more than 13,500 SPAR stores in 48 countries.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2022, SPAR International entered the Kazakhstani retail market.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref>
In 2022, Israeli supermarket chain Shufersal announced plans to open SPAR stores in Israel; with 10 stores to be opened in the first three years of operation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Also in 2022, SPAR entered Latvia where by 2023 it opened 23 stores.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A first Israeli Spar store was opened in 2024.
At the beginning of 2025, Tokmanni Oy signed a license agreement with Spar International. The granted license gives Tokmanni the exclusive right to sell Spar products and use the Spar brand in Finland.<ref name="toivonen-yle"/> In June 2025, the first Spar-branded food department was opened in the town of Ylöjärvi.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Before that, Spar has had stores in Finland in years 1962–1973 and 1998–2005.<ref name="toivonen-yle">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Operations
By 2024, the group had 13,900 stores in 48 countries.<ref name="About Us"/>
- 255 distribution centres<ref name="SparAnnualReview" />
- €41.2 billion total sales<ref name="SparAnnualReview" />
- 410,000 SPAR colleagues<ref name="SparAnnualReview" />
- 7.5 million m2 retail sales area<ref name="SparAnnualReview" />
- 14.5 million customers per day<ref name="SparAnnualReview" />
| Country | Number of stores<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | Formats |
|---|---|---|
| Albania | 92<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, SPAR express, INTERSPAR |
| Angola | 38<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, SPAR express |
| Australia | 111<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, SPAR express, SUPERSPAR |
| Austria | 1511<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, SPAR express, SPAR Gourmet, EUROSPAR, INTERSPAR |
| Azerbaijan | 53<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, SPAR express, SPAR Market |
| Belgium | 317<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, SPAR express |
| Botswana | 71<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, SUPERSPAR |
| Cameroon | 16<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, SPAR express |
| China | 331<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR |
| Croatia | 145<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, INTERSPAR |
| Denmark | 141<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR |
| Finland | 1<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | EUROSPAR |
| France | 702<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, EUROSPAR |
| Georgia | 382<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, SPAR express |
| Germany | 234<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR express |
| Hungary | 652<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, SPAR express, INTERSPAR |
| India | 24<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, SPAR Hypermarket |
| Ireland | 463<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, SPAR express, EUROSPAR |
| Italy | 1417<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | DESPAR, DESPAR express, EUROSPAR, INTERSPAR |
| Kazakhstan | 7<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR |
| Kosovo | 10<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR |
| Kyrgyzstan | 7<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR |
| Latvia | 24<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, SPAR express |
| Malta | 12<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, SPAR express, EUROSPAR, INTERSPAR |
| Mozambique | 17<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR |
| Monaco | 1<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR |
| Namibia | 64<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, SPAR express, SUPERSPAR |
| Netherlands | 418<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, SPAR express, SPAR city, SPAR enjoy, SPAR university |
| Nigeria | 14<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR |
| Norway | 284<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, EUROSPAR |
| Oman | 28<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR |
| Pakistan | 5<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, SPAR express |
| Paraguay | 1<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR |
| Poland | 212<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, SPAR express, EUROSPAR |
| Portugal | 175<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR |
| Qatar | 7<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR |
| Russia | 203<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, SPAR express, EUROSPAR, EUROSPAR express |
| Rwanda | 1<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR |
| Saudi Arabia | 15<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, SPAR express |
| Seychelles | 1<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR |
| Slovenia | 159<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, INTERSPAR |
| South Africa | 1094<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, KWIKSPAR, SPAR express, SUPERSPAR, SaveMor |
| Spain | 1435<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, SPAR express, EUROSPAR |
| Sri Lanka | 18<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, SPAR Supermarket |
| Switzerland | 252<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, SPAR express, EUROSPAR |
| Ukraine | 118<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, SPAR express, EUROSPAR |
| United Arab Emirates | 12<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, SPAR express |
| United Kingdom | 2190<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR, SPAR express, EUROSPAR (Northern Ireland only) |
| Zambia | 3<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR |
| Zimbabwe | 32<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | SPAR |
Store formats
In most, but not all countries, SPAR operates shops of different types and sub-brands including SPAR Express, SPAR, EuroSPAR and InterSPAR.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Current store formats
EuroSPAR
The EuroSPAR name is used in Europe for mid-sized supermarkets, designed to fit in a niche between convenience shops and traditional supermarkets.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>
INTERSPAR
INTERSPAR is an Austrian hypermarket chain founded in 1970 and owned by SPAR Austria, operating large stores ranging from 3,000 to 6,000 m² in Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia and Northeastern Italy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
KwikSPAR
KwikSPAR, only found in South Africa, is a smaller quick stop shop for convenience, larger than the conventional SPAR Express and smaller than the normal SPAR. These stores tend to have extended trading hours, some operating as 24-hour convenience stores.
SPAR
Standard traditional supermarket format.
SPAR Express
This is the smallest type of shop. They are designed for small sites and filling station forecourts, airports and train stations.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
SPAR Gourmet
The Austrian Spar Group has around 50 supermarkets branded SPAR Gourmet, mainly in and around Vienna. They are smaller supermarkets that specialize in foods, with a reduced range of other household goods. They originate from the acquisition of retail units from the Julius Meinl coffee and tea chain in 2000.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
SUPERSPAR
The SUPERSPAR name is used in Australia, designed to fit in a niche between convenience shops and traditional supermarkets. In South Africa, the name is used for large supermarkets.<ref name=":0" />
Defunct store formats
HOT SPAR
HOT SPAR was a brand of convenience stores licensed to franchisees in Japan.<ref name="RyukyuAsahi2007">Template:Cite web
- rough translation of relevant parts: "From next February, the convenience store chain 'HOT SPAR' will be renamed to 'COCO!'".; "Template:Interp because the licensing contract with the Dutch firm SPAR International will expire on November next year"
</ref>
SPAR Drive-Thru
There was a drive-through SPAR on the Cliftonville Road in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This has now been converted to a Centra shop, and retained the drive-through for a while afterwards, but now no longer has one.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>