SPAR

This article is about the convenience store. For other uses, see Spar (disambiguation).

SPAR logo.

SPAR is an international retail franchise comprising over 17,500 convenience stores in 34 operating regions. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932, and operated on a principal similar to co-operative stores elsewhere - retailers would group together to get bulk discounts from suppliers/wholesalers. In 1953 an International SPAR office was opened in Amsterdam to control and further develop this unique organisation throughout Europe and other continents.

Stores are more prevalent in Europe, but a few countries outside of Europe, such as South Africa, Botswana, Australia, Mauritius, Argentina, China and Japan also have SPAR stores. In Japan the store operates under the name HOT SPAR, although the store logo remains unchanged. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, Spar has become known mainly as a convienence store format.

The name, which was originally DE SPAR, is an acronym of the initial letters of a Dutch phrase Door Eendrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig, meaning "All will benefit from united co-operation". De spar in Dutch translates into English as fir tree, and hence a fir tree is the logo of SPAR. 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). Coincidentally, "spar" is also the imperative form of "to save money" in German, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and Afrikaans.

A store may be independently owned, a franchisee or a chain store depending on the model being 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 designed in 1968 and has remained unchanged ever since. There are a number of sub-brands under the Spar brand, with larger supermarkets being branded "Eurospar", smaller stores "Spar Express", and hypermarkets "Interspar". Not all of these brands or formats are used in every country however.

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

Slogans

"So near, yet so SPAR"

"Under the tree, at SPAR"

External links

*SPAR International
*- A public collection of SPAR photographs from around the globe

Data

*Yahoo! - SPAR Handels-Aktiengesellschaft Company Profile (2,500+1,175+200 stores)
*Yahoo! - SPAR (UK) Limited Company Profile (2,600 stores)